I’m in the market for a tablet UMPC. I already have an HP Pavillion tx1308nr tablet notebook that’s pretty good after I upgraded the ram to 2GB. I need something like my HP but portable. I was thinking of the Sony UX but I don’t want to pay $2000. I’m leaning towards the Fujitsu U810. I would mainly use it to answer emails and design Baybayin while on Bart. I just read that a U820 is coming out soon but I don’t know when. I bet it will be $$$$. Too bad the Asus EEE PC does not have a tablet…..yet.

There are so many good looking iPhone apps out there but I don’t want to take the risk and waste money. Apple should make it a standard feature that all apps have a free trial. I’m sure they are worried of hackers of busting the trial but I believe it would help sell more. Until this is done, the smart app developers are creating a free version and a premium one.

Just downloaded the new Wordpress iPhone app. I’m currently on Bart. Hopefully this photo will show up.

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch is sick of waiting for an affordable and simple tablet.

Here’s the basic idea: The machine is as thin as possible, runs low end hardware and has a single button for powering it on and off, headphone jacks, a built in camera for video, low end speakers, and a microphone. It will have Wifi, maybe one USB port, a built in battery, half a Gigabyte of RAM, a 4-Gigabyte solid state hard drive. Data input is primarily through an iPhone-like touch screen keyboard. It runs on linux and Firefox. It would be great to have it be built entirely on open source hardware, but including Skype for VOIP and video calls may be a nice touch, too.

I don’t know why I was a little shocked to see the post today when I’ve been a fan of Arrington for a while now. I guess that’s what makes the dude smart. This is a classic example of the “See a hole, fill it” philosophy. Instead of waiting for Apple or someone else to make one, do it yourself or better yet – get someone else to do it for you. Just reading through the comments, you will see a lot of supporters willing to contribute to this project. The power of crowdsourcing.

On a personal note, I’ve also been waiting for something like this for the past 2 years. If the iPhone was only bigger. I have an HP Pavillion tablet that works great but even though it’s small, it’s still not very portable or sexy. I want something that I can take to work and take care of business during lunch time or on the train commute home. If this project see’s the light of day, I might be building my 1st computer.

When the 1st iPhone came out, there was some elitism associated with owning one. Just because someone was more privileged to be able to afford one, they had a distinct technological advantage over the next guy. While standing in line this morning from 8:45am to 11:00am, I was able to chat with people of all backgrounds and ages eager for the latest iPhone.

The Nurse
She wasn’t technical at all and had a lot of basic questions about the phone. Her biggest dilemma was should she get an 8gig or 16gig? With her primary use going to be medical ebooks and the Netter’s Anatomy application, I suggested she go with the 8gig.

The Teen
This 15 year old kid knew his stuff. He had an old Samsung phone that was obviously a hand-me-down from his parents while his mother was sporting a 1st generation iPhone. His primary interest was games. We had a conversation about jailbreaking and using the internet to cheat in school.

The Homemaker
She was actually the mother of the 15 year old and was holding off on getting a 2nd gen iPhone because she was happy with her 1st gen. What made her decide not to get a 3G iPhone was the 2.0 software that she recently installed (her son probabaly did it). Surfing the internet faster wasn’t a biggie on her list, nor did she care about GPS.

The 50’s Man
This father of 2 teens was suprising his kids and wanted to show them how “cool” he was. He came from an old school cobalt programming background and let the technology pass him up. This was his way of getting back in the game.

The Artist
This woman will about a dozen tattoos worked for an art house needed to get the new iPhone because the agency she worked for was developing an app. As much as she hated confirming t the masses, she couln’t deny the fact that 1) It’s functional and 2) It looks good.

The Jock
He didn’t know much about the technology. His friend was with him so he can help pick the right one and set it up. He honestly said he’s getting it because it looks cool.

I’ll admit that it did feel good to have a phone that not that many people had but now I want everyone to have it. Why? It helps connect people and creates new business opportunities for the innovative.

Only a couple more days until the 3G iPhone comes out and I’m pretty excited. I held off on buying the 1st gen iPhone mainly because it was a bit too expensive and was missing a few core features. I eventually caved in around December and got one for FREE with my American Express points – yeah, I do have a little debt The main reason for getting the 1st gen iPhone was to have access to the internet to keep in touch with my clients and work on my websites. Besides the 24/7 internet, the camera came in handy as well as Google Maps.

So why am I upgrading? Here are some reasons….

3G speed - While having the internet on hand 24/7 is great but Edge is like dialup. I’ve never experienced 3G speed but if it lives up to the hype, the browsing experience will be much better. That means getting things done faster – like updating websites (more on that later).

Applications - Once of my biggest issues with the 1st gen iPhone was the lack of basic features like IM and video recording. While video recording was not announced during the last keynote, I have confidence that an application or system update will allow it. 1st gen jailbroken iPhones can already do it. With the upcoming Wordpress iPhone app, I’ll be able to blog and post pictures anywhere. Maybe I’ll create a Baybayin translator app? All companies want a piece of the iPhone and applications are the way in. I expect my everyday web apps like Meebo to launch their native apps soon.

GPS - As I mentioned before, I use Google Maps a lot. With the addition of GPS, I may no longer have to by a standaline for my car. I’m also excited about using Loopt to track friends and clients.

Corporate support – I’m trying to hold off on getting a Blackberry for work and having to lug around 2 phones. Hopefully my day job will support it so I can have that life work balance.