Some things to know about iPad

What are some of the important specs of the iPad?

• 0.5 inch wide
• 1.5 pounds, which is thinner and lighter than any netbook on the market
• Same App Store and operating system as the iPhone and the iPod Touch
• 9.7-inch LED backlit display
• 178-degree viewing angle
• Up to 10 hours of battery life
• Uses your home Wi-Fi. A 3G version that will use AT&T's network will launch in a few weeks
• $499 for the 16-gig model
• $599 for the 32-gig model
• $699 for the 64-gig model

What are some of the drawbacks of the iPad?

• It doesn't multi-task.
• It is a fingerprint magnet. For something so elegant, it sure does look pretty grimy after a few minutes of use
• It is heavier than you think it is. Using it as an e-book reader can be difficult if you are planning to hold it like a book for prolonged periods of time
• Typing on the keyboard can be hard to get used to. You have to set it down to place your hands on the keyboard, which is awkward and odd. I don't think you'll be composing long e-mails on it.
• It will NOT replace your notebook or phone. You won't be able to produce a lot on this. It is meant for you to consume media like music and video. Producing things like video, photo, or written text is not really the best experience.
• It is expensive for something you're not sure you need yet. There is always the chance that Apple will lower the price in a few months like they did with the iPhone. There is also a VERY good chance that a camera will be installed in the next installation of the device so if video calling is important to you, you might want to wait.
• It is not a high definition experience. High resolution but not HD
• You cannot annotate your books from the iTunes store so if you are reading a book you bought through Apple, you can't take notes on the book or mark passages like you can on the Kindle.

3-D TVs, next big thing for Electronics companies

Samsung and Panasonic will start selling 3-D TVs in U.S. stores this week, inaugurating what manufacturers hope is the era of 3-D viewing in the living room. But because the sets require bulky glasses, and there is for now little to watch in the enhanced format, it will take at least a few years for the technology to become mainstream, if that happens at all.

Samsung Electronics Co. announced Tuesday that it is selling two 3-D sets this week. For $3,000, buyers get a 46-inch set, two pairs of glasses and a 3-D Blu-ray player.

To give buyers something to watch, Samsung is including a 3-D copy of "Monsters vs. Aliens" on Blu-ray disc with its packages, in a deal with the studio, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Its CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, said it will convert its "Shrek" movies to 3-D for Samsung TV buyers later this year.

Eventually, sports and other programming that will benefit from a more immersive experience should be offered in 3-D. ESPN has said it will start a channel that will broadcast live events using the technology, starting with FIFA World Cup soccer in June. The sets could also be used for 3-D video games, when game consoles catch up to the new technology.

Sony Corp. said Tuesday it will start selling 3-D televisions in June. U.S. prices were not revealed, but the sets will cost $3,200 and up in Japan. The company hopes that 10 percent of the TVs it sells in the next fiscal year will be 3-D units.

Sony also plans to issue software upgrades for its PlayStation 3 game consoles and some of its Blu-ray players so they will be able to play 3-D discs.

ISuppli analyst Randy Lawson said it's a fairly simple, inexpensive move for manufacturers to modify their high-end sets to be 3-D-capable. That's part of the reason iSuppli expects a quick increase in sales of such 3-D TVs. Whether people will use the feature is another matter, he said.