So today finally saw the launch of Apple’s take on the tablet PC, the rather dubiously named iPad. It’s essentially a giant iPhone with a 9.7-inch glass touch-screen, aluminium back, and thickness of just half an inch. Internally you get a new Apple A4 processor, optional 3G connectivity, and Wi-FI while HD video playback will be doable, and it’ll have 10 hours battery life. Apple has even hooked up with several publishers so, as well as the usual music and movies, you’ll be able to download ebooks over-the-air wherever you are.

All of which sounds quite nice but, if you’re anything like me and my colleagues at TrustedReviews, you’ll realise that this product doesn’t really have a place in most of our lives beyond being a luxury gadget. Not even accounting for basic problems like the fact that it lacks Flash support in its web browser and it can’t do multitasking, it’s not pocketable so you’ll still probably want a smartphone that can already do a large number of the things this can. Neither does it come close to replacing a laptop due to countless things. Without seeing it in the flesh we can’t say for sure but, we suspect we’ll still prefer to read ebooks using devices with e-ink displays as well.

All in all, it’s not for us.

However. I’m loving its arrival for three reasons.

1. With countless companies having tried and failed in the past to make something of tablet PCs, there was always a thought in the back of peoples minds that, ‘maybe Apple could finally crack it’. The iPad finally proves that the tablet PC is not for the general public and that Apple can’t polish a turd. Fooling people into thinking it was lamb when it was clearly mutton, maybe, but miracles, no.

2. It will finally sort the men from the Apple fanboys. With Apple having made some genuinely great products recently, the line between long time Apple lovers and those that just recognise something good has become blurred. Now, with a device that is so clearly unsuited to serve any particular purpose other than being something ‘cool’ to have, the lines can once again be marked out. If you buy this you’re a fanboy or someone with cash to splash, if you don’t you’re sensible or skint.

3. Along the same lines as 2, when we eventually get an iPad in for review and find it lacking, the readers of TR will finally get off our backs about us all being Apple fanboys!

We (TrustedReviews) today launched a new video review section. So, if you’re not content with just reading my words you can now hear my voice and see my ugly mug from anywhere around the world. Oh joy!

If you fancy checking it out go here.

Even though I spend my entire working life reviewing, researching, playing with, and generally enjoying the wonders of new tech, it’s not often I see something that is truly inspiring but that’s exactly what happened last week.

I was out in California where I was watching the DARPA Urban Challenge, which is, or rather was, a robot car race. I won’t go into too much detail (you can read my piece on TrustedReviews about it if you like) but essentially normal cars had been retrofitted with LASERs, RADAR, computers, and all manner of other bits and bobs to enable them to literally drive themselves. The challenge was a race to see which of these contraptions was the best.

Now, being a technologist, I was understandably blase about this and walking round the ‘paddock’ it didn’t really excite me as such. However, once the race got underway and I saw a car drive past me with no driver, it suddenly dawned on me how amazing, surreal, and even freaky it was. There was certainly something special about that moment and though I’m not sure if fully autonomous cars are more a scary or exciting prospect, it was certainly a privilege to be witness to these first steps towards that final goal.

Oh, and if you use such things, give my story a digg here.

Cheers.

As of yesterday the 22nd October 2007, TrustedReviews Ltd became part of no less than AOL, CNN, and New Line owning Time Warner! That’s right, I’ll soon be kicking it with the stars up in down town L.A., sipping on my Mohito while basking in the sun as I casually type away. Or maybe not…

Actually we’re going to be part of IPC Media, one of the largest print media publishers in the UK, who are themselves owned by TW. So, this will mean precisely naff all to us for the short to medium term as we’re not moving offices, no staff are coming or going, and our contracts stay the same. However, sometime in the not too distant future TR will start to grow into the publication it was always meant to be and, personally, I can’t wait.