Well, the Ipad3 announcement has happened, and after giving it a few days to calm down, let’s see what the reviews are like. I enjoyed this review from the Guardian, mostly because it seems a little more balanced, without the typical Apple Fanboi stuff that can really take away from the experience. Measured in real world (aka, not a fan) terms, it seems that the Ipad3 is very good, but some of the touted features aren’t all that exciting.

Here’s the full presentation. Not shabby!

Interesting story from CNN Money, which talks about the implications of the new Ipad3 on 3G networking. Clearly, 4G networking has gotten a foothold and is rapidly expanding all over the world, and if the new Ipad3 is in fact a 4G device, it may drive that technology and leave 3G as the weaker cousin. If nothing else, this certainly seems to be paralleling the development of Intel’s processor chips, going from a single core to dual, dual to quad, and so on. There is a point where the older technology doesn’t compare very well, and doesn’t compete. The snob factor of “I am on 4G” certainly has it’s marketing appeal as well.

Well, the Apple Ipad3 is set to be announced shortly, and this is the first truly huge announcement in the Post-Jobs era of Apple. While this may not be a total test of what the company looks like now, as the product is pure Job’s thinking, it will be telling to see how the presentation itself goes. The new IPad3 drops into a marketplace that is becoming more and more crowded, with competitive tablets on Android and Microsoft operating systems, as well as plenty of pressure from the “big screen” phone market. The big news seems to be that the new IPad gets a much better screen, much higher resolution, but that isn’t making everyone happy. Gizmodo has a pretty good summary here of potential upgrade items on the new Ipad.

An interesting twist by Sprint, or so it seems. A recent update for the HTC Thunderbolt that was rolled out to subscribers now blocks tethering, and requires that the user pay $30 a month for the right to tether. It seems a like a weird move to remove functionality, but at the same time may be as a result of excessiv data usage by some users.

Read more of the story here.

Sort of an interesting story from CNN Money, suggesting that there will in fact be two new Iphones hitting the market this fall. The big news will be the Iphone5, which is much anticipated, especially following the release of the iOS5 recently. However, the biggest news may be the IPhone4S, which would be a speeded up but lower cost version of the current Iphone4, which would allow Apple to hit a market segment that they haven’t been in since the IPhone 3GS. That market is the middle ground, $350 or so unlocked phone range, which permits cellular companies to offer pretty attractive packages with the phones. It would give Apple a nice shot in the meat of the Android marketplace. Read more of the story on CNN Money here.

This is a pretty incredible story, one that makes even the biggest supporters of the patent process wonder what is going on. Capacitive touch screen technology is not new by any means, these sorts of screens have been around for years. However, Apple has managed to get a patent issued this week (applied for in 2008) that covered mobile capacitive touch screens. Many competing companies have expressed dismay or concern over this patent, which could be used by Apple to either push other companies out of business, or to make them pay a significant or punitive license fee which would make all smart phones more expensive.

Some more interesting discussion on this news at Cnet, as well as some background from Chinese news service Xinhua.

This is something I am not really clear on being useful, but I guess it had to happen. Sharp today started shipping into the Japanese market via DoCoMo mobile service an Android based 3D phone. Key is the dual camera lenses, which allow the phone to shoot true 3D depth images. It uses Android Gingerbread 2.3, has plenty of features including HDMI out. It is based on a 1.4ghz Qualcomm processor, and it’s connection data speed is high enough to qualify as a 4G phone, if it ever made it to the US market. Right now, it is a Japanese market phone only.

More of the story here

There has been many rumors about White Iphones, including that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a white Iphone seen in public recently. Well, it looks like it is finally going to happen, this story says that there will be white Apple Iphone 4s for sale in Italy soon. That’s right, Apple Iphone4 in white for sale in Italy soon… stay tuned for confirmation!

A very interesting article on CNN today (of all places) suggests that Apple is working towards a universal Iphone in the future, one that will be able to work on all networks. When Apple moved to put the Iphone on Verizon,they had to make changes to allow for it to connect and operate on their non-GSM networks. Apparently the chip used for communications on the new version is similar to that of the Droid pro also used on the Verizon network, which allows their users to operate outside of the US on GSM systems.

While the current Verizon version of the Iphone does not have support for the all important simcard, it would appear that the Iphone 5 may be based on this hardware and may in fact create a more universal Iphone. Check out the story here

For the second time in a couple of years, Steve Jobs has stepped down from his position as the leader of Apple, taking a medical leave. The last time, they said it was for some sort of imbalance, and turned out to be for a liver transplant. The last time had a sort of definite return date, this time it is very open ended, which has lead to some concern. Will this affect the Apple products in the future? CNN has an interesting story here. Apple shares are taking a beating, as the market opens for the first time after the announcement. There is at least some concern that Apple without Jobs isn’t anywhere near as good, and while there are many talented people working for Apple, only Jobs has “the vision” when it comes to products. We wish Jobs the very best and a speedy recovery from whatever ails him.