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Verizon isn't the only one seeing Apple's products as an opportunity. Sprint is advertising their 4G hotspot as a way to make your iPhone faster.

Ummm, why not do what Verizon is doing and aim for the iPad? 

I got a good question today via Twitter that I have some expertise in: 

What would you consider the "best" monitor for Macs...for a [good] price?

I've been buying monitors for small to mid-size companies for awhile and have one each of a Sharp, Dell, Samsung, Apple and HP monitor in my house so I feel like I have a bit of experience in the area.

Disclaimer: If you are a pro/artist, you are going to want something else.  This recommendation isn't for you…maybe your parents.

Dell has the best value in monitors and has for the last few years.  They aren't built like Apple displays but they are very solid and look good. 

If every penny counts, you can find the Dell 1600x900 20" display out there every once in awhile for $89.  But really, for $40 more you can step up to 1080P resolution.

I say this cold: No one should have anything less than a 1080P 1920x1080 screen on their desktops.  You can buy a 22" 1080P display for $129 with free shipping on sale at Dell every once in awhile (currently $149).  If it isn't on sale, you can usually find it refurbished for that price or less.   Here's a Samsung equivalent (same hardware+$50) as a mediacenter display which works great for Blu-Ray movies at about 4-8 feet away.  This is basically the same display (size/pixels/aspect ratio) as the $1000+iMac 22" without LED lighting.  The viewing angles aren't what you'll get in a more expensive display and the color takes a little calibration (2 minutes, very easy) but you have a 1080P display on your desk for less than the price of a parking ticket in most cities. 

But that's not the best inexpensive monitor you can buy right now.  Dell makes the SP2309W, 23" "better than HD" 2048x1152 display with HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs, 4 port USB Hub, cable management, Webcam, mic and analog audio I/O.  It also looks great with a "not as glossy as Apple's" 23-inch display.  It doesn't have internal audio, but I'd rather use external speakers (for another day's review) for sound.  They have a $10 sound bar you could get but I wouldn't reccomend it. 

The SP2309W hits every sweet spot for me and you can currently get it for $229+Free shipping at Dell.  Compare that to Apple's $900 Cinema Display with fewer pixels and ports. (yes it is lovely and has power for MacBooks, etc.)

The viewing angles are great but it also has an adjustable arm in the back for both angle and height (Apple's are angle only).  I've had this monitor as my main display since Apple botched its Mini DisplayPort to dual DVI adapter part over a year ago.

I won't lie.  I miss the old 16:10 ratio of the 1920x1200 displays.  I think they are better for computer use (16:9 obviously better for movies) but there are only a few vendors still selling those displays and they are usually overpriced and clunky.  What's great about the bigger 2048x1152 display is that you get all of the pixels of the 1920x1200,but at a 16:9 ratio.

This display also don't require Apple's horrific $100 Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter.  It works with the standard Mini Displayport-DVI (or VGA or HDMI) cable which are $5-$15. 

I have an older, second-hand 30-inch Apple Cinema Display in my basement that works fine with Dual DVI Macs but keeps going fuzzy with the newer DisplayPort Macs.  The adapter has been replaced a few times but works the same each time and Apple, after over a year on the market, still doesn't have a fix. Until Apple fixes this part, I can't recommend anything with more pixels than this Dell display without native DisplayPort built in like this Dell or the 27-inch iMac. 

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From the Toys Section:

Today only at Dell Home, add the Dell S2009W 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor to your shopping cart to get it for $89 with free shipping. That's $20 under our September mention and ties the lowest total price we've seen. Sales tax is added where applicable. It features a 1600x900 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m² brightness, 5ms response time, and DVI-D and VGA inputs.

I'm not quite sure I buy this whole story.  A TUAW reader with a new Core i7 iMac says that when they ran Software Update, they got the 10.6.3 Pre-release that was released today:

When finished, they had the new 10D572 build of Snow Leopard 10.6.3. 

Is this a Prius acceleration type of phenomenon?

Steve Jobs made an appearance at the unveiling of a new California Bill SB 1395 that would require driver's license registrants to tick off whether or not they'd like to be a donor or not, rather than the current system which makes them fill out a separate form.    According to the Mercury News, Jobs convinced lawmakers to put forward the legislation in order to make more organs available to patients waiting for them.

"Steve Jobs' was very instrumental in getting us here today," said the governor. "Steve Jobs told my wife about his transplant and she talked to me. Then we had great phone conversations back and forth. ... He knew that others don't have a plane waiting for them to get to a transplant."

Jobs said, "There were not enough livers in California to go around. I was advised by my Stanford doctors to enroll on a list at a Memphis hospital, because it was more favorable to get a liver there.

"I was fortunate," he said because he had the ability to fly cross country in the four-hour window needed to transplant a healthy organ. "Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died."

He called current system "an obscure process" with "no one asking the simple question: Will you donate your organs?"

Of his current health, the whippet-thin Jobs told other transplant survivors who attended the Friday news conference, "I'm feeling fine. I almost died. It's been a pretty good last few months."

We've managed to get some screenshots of the updated iTunes Connect interface for submitting iPad applications for those who might be interested. Have a look:   

Apple sent the following email to developers today signalling that they will now accept apps made for the iPad.

Guess we'll start to see what is out there pretty soon.

Verbiage:

iPad will begin shipping soon and your opportunity to be part of the grand opening of the iPad App Store starts today. Submit your iPad app now for an initial review by the App Review Team and receive feedback on its readiness for the grand opening.
Submit Your App by March 27.
•
Build and test your iPad app using iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 5 available on the iPhone Dev Center. Only iPad apps built with iPhone SDK 3.2 beta 5 will be accepted for this initial review.

•
Upload your distribution signed app through iTunes Connect by Saturday, March 27, 5pm PDT.
•
The App Review Team will review your app on iPad and email you details about the readiness of your app.
•
You will also receive additional information about submitting your app for final review before iPad ships.
•
Only apps submitted for the initial review will be considered for the grand opening of the iPad App Store.

We know that Intel and Apple's relationship isn't what it once was even a year ago. A few years ago, they were getting processors ahead of launch and Intel even built the original MacBook Air its very own chip.  Now things are a bit different, which may be a reason why MacBook Pros haven't been updated to the current generation processors (released in January).  Digitimes today says that:

Intel is giving priority to major clients [Acer], and second-tier and smaller notebook players have to wait much longer before receiving supply of the CPUs, the sources noted.

Has Apple dropped to "second tier"?

According to a report by the sometimes spotty (ahem removable battery?!) Korean Times (via DL), Samsung will soon begin producing iPad screens.  This follows news this morning that Wintek may or may not be having issues with production yields on their iPad touch screen sensors.

"Samsung Electronics has won a contract worth $240 million from Apple to supply 3 million LCD panels used in the iPads," a high-ranking industry representative told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified. "The most expensive component in the iPad is the display and touch-screen interface that costs $80 for all models. The 9.7-inch display is more than twice the size of the iPhone 3GS screen and costs five times as much," he said.

LG, who has a $500 million/ multi-year display deal with Apple, is already building 10 million iPad displays according to the report, which would put the total order for displays at 13 million.  That is a lot of iPads.

If true, it will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the capabilities of the two screens.  There was some controversy when Apple changed the quality of the screens in its 13-inch Unibody MacBooks last year.

The Korea Times also states that:

Separately, Samsung Mobile Display ― a flat-screen joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI ― has been in deep talks to supply its LCD panels for Apple's upcoming 4G iPhones and iPads, a company executive told the newspaper. "As far as I know, Apple will use the LCD panels for its next iPhone models. We are receiving related orders from Apple," the executive said, without elaborating further.

The same Korean Times said last year that the 4G iPhone would utilize an OLED display.

Apple is abandoning its plans for TV subscriptions (for now) but may have some $.99 television shows for the iPad's launch according to an updated report by the Wall Street Journal.

Apple has narrowed the device's scope. It has put on hold its idea to offer TV subscriptions that would be viewable through the iPad, because few media companies were interested. Instead, Apple is discussing dropping the price of TV shows to 99 cents from the $1.99 and $2.99 charged for most shows on its iTunes store, said people familiar with the situation. Apple hasn't yet reached a deal with many major TV producers on the price cut, these people said.

The WSJ reports that although most eBooks will be ready at launch, Magazines and TV are a harder nut to crack...

People familiar with the matter have said Apple is trying to allay concerns by arguing that lower pricing on iTunes could help create a new market. These people said they still believe Apple may reach deals with some to offer 99-cent shows by the time the iPad ships. It's also possible TV companies could offer access to their shows on the iPad through applications that would stream the videos, rather than selling them through iTunes. But streaming is often limited by a tangle of licenses between producers and TV networks. The iPad platform could also pose technical hurdles.

Which leads to everyone's favorite topic: Adobe's Flash:

Some publishers and TV executives are concerned the iPad doesn't support Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash video technology, which many publishers use to showcase their multimedia content and is also an underlying technology of online ads.

I'm sure no one will take issue with that last statement.

China Mobile is itching to get their hands on the  iPhone according to the FT (sub. req.) today.  

The head of China Mobile has called on Apple to include Beijing's home-grown standard for third-generation mobile services in the next generation of the iPhone, underscoring the growing pressures on the world's largest mobile operator to attract 3G subscribers.  The request comes amid fears that China Mobile risks falling behind rivals China Telecom and China Unicom - the only telecom operator in the country to have a distribution deal with Apple for the iPhone - in signing up subscribers. Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile chairman and chief executive, said at the group's annual results yesterday that "including TD-SCDMA is not that hard to do - RIM is doing it". But he added that Apple had not yet responded to his proposal.

China Mobile has over half a billion subscribers (almost double the US population) and Apple had already made the concession of taking out Wifi (only to put it back in) for China so they might have a shot.   Also, Apple is hot for China. 

Apple, however, seems to be loyal to its carrier partners no matter how lucrative building devices with different radios for competing carriers might be….at least from my view here in the US.China Mobile's TD-SCDMA standard is a homegrown Chinese 3G technology that has had its issues, according to the FT.   China Mobile's 3G adoption has fallen dramatically over the past year, in part due to continued technical problems with its 3G technology.  Adding the technology to the iPhone would require a special Chinese chip, something that Blackberry was willing to add but Apple may not.

Businessweek reports today that an elite group of developers have received iPads to test their applications on, however, these iPads must be kept tethered to a fixed object and in rooms with blacked-out windows.

Would-be testers of the tablet-style computer, due to be released Apr. 3, must promise to keep it isolated in a room with blacked-out windows, according to four people familiar with the more than 10-page pact that bars partners from disclosing information about the iPad. To ensure that it can't be removed, the iPad must also remain tethered to a fixed object, said the people, who asked not to be named because their plans for the iPad have not been made public. Apple won't send out an iPad until potential partners send photographic evidence that they've complied.

Our immediate reaction to this is: What does Apple want to hide at this point?  Haven't we seen the iPad in its final form from a hardware perspective?  From a software perspective, what is so interesting that they need developers to hide it?  This level of secrecy on something already announced piques our interest.

The WSJ is one of the companies who has the iPad under lock and key as outed by Rupert Murdoch himself...among other things, though they'd be an unlikely source for a Bloomberg leak.

Digitimes gives fair and balanced coverage of possible iPad delays by first quoting Liberty Times as saying Wintek's display panels' low yield rates are hampering iPad production, a fact that has been discussed before.

Taiwan-based touch panel supplier Wintek has been blamed for a delay of Apple's iPad shipments, according to a Chinese-language report on Liberty Times. The report claimed that Wintek is facing a manufacturing bottleneck in its touch panel production, and its low yield rate for touch panels has hampered its shipments to Apple.

But on the flip side of the coin, Digitimes reports that Wintek has reported to the TSE that all of its operations have been running in-line with its plans.

Wintek, in a statement filed with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) today, said that all of its operations have been running in line with its plans, and it declined to comment on individual clients or particular orders.

We'll see in coming weeks how well Apple is able to meet demand, which already appears to be pretty high.

You ever wonder why Apple can't get a proper deal done with the TV Networks to put their content online?  Do you know who they are really dealing with?  From the Viacom vs. Youtube lawsuit:

For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately "roughed up" the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Executives as high up as the president of Comedy Central and the head of MTV Networks felt "very strongly" that clips from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should remain on YouTube.

Viacom's efforts to disguise its promotional use of YouTube worked so well that even its own employees could not keep track of everything it was posting or leaving up on the site. As a result, on countless occasions Viacom demanded the removal of clips that it had uploaded to YouTube, only to return later to sheepishly ask for their reinstatement. In fact, some of the very clips that Viacom is suing us over were actually uploaded by Viacom itself.

Classy.

According to a source of Silicon Alley Insider, Steve Jobs had the following bookmarks on his iPad for the demonstration for the Wall Street Journal last month:

"Well, he has Engadget, Gizmodo, the New York Times tech section, and the Wall Street Journal bookmarked."

He had other sites bookmarked but those were the only ones the source remembered.  We know what you are thinking...  What about 9to5mac?!  …Homepage.

The WSJ chimes in with some frustratingly vague information today.  Besides the fact that Apple is scrambling to get more content onto the iPad (whole Internet isn't enough?), we got some numbers predictions from someone who knows someone:

Apple has sold hundreds of thousands of the device, say people familiar with the matter. One of these people said Apple could sell more iPads in its first three months than it sold iPhones in the three months after the smart phone's debut.

As a point of reference, Apple sold its first 1 million iPhones in the first 74 days.

The New York Times last night revealed that Google, in partnership with device manufacturer Sony and peripherals manufacturer Logitech, were working on a 'GoogleTV'.

Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like and probably inevitable for the company that knows no bounds in their reach for the digital consumer.

But are there chairs being thrown in Cupertino? Perhaps, but they've had it coming. AppleTV could've been so much more than it is. Apple could own this market, yet they've let all matter of competitors come in and take some space, including Boxee which rode to prominence hacked into an AppleTV.

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In a statement today, Apple announced that director Jerome B. York has passed away following suffering a brain aneurism in his Detroit home last night.

CUPERTINO, California—March 18, 2010—Apple® is sad to announce the death of Apple Board member Jerome B. (Jerry) York. York, the chairman, president and CEO of Harwinton Capital, joined Apple’s Board of Directors in 1997. He was the former CFO of IBM and Chrysler, and former vice chairman of Tracinda. He is widely acknowledged for his contributions at Chrysler and IBM during their turnarounds.

“Jerry joined Apple’s Board in 1997 when most doubted the company’s future. He has been a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on our Board for over a dozen years,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It’s been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I’m going to miss him a lot.”

Jerry York was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1938. He graduated from the United States Military Academy, and received an MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the University of Michigan. Trained as an engineer, York worked his way up through Chrysler to become CFO.

Update: Apple has posted a nice message on apple.com 

Viv Mag created this "Sin City" effect iPad demo:

Photographer Alexx Henry, along with co-directors Cory Strassburger and Ming Hsiung have produced an amazing motion magazine cover and feature spread for Viv Mag, an all digital magazine. The interactive article uses video, sound and print in a remarkable way that really makes you think about the amazing possibilities available in this emerging world of “digital print.”

Experience the making of the video below.

Via PSFK Conference