WASHINGTON — Mid-Atlantic residents were buried Saturday from a likely record-setting blizzard the president jokingly called “Snowmageddon,” and those brave enough tried to clear a path through the wet, heavy mounds of thigh-high snow.
The snow was falling too quickly in the nation’s capital for crews to keep up, and officials begged residents to stay home and out of the way so that roads might be cleared in time for everyone to return to work Monday. The usually traffic-snarled roads were mostly barren, and Washington’s familiar sites and monuments were covered with nearly 2 feet of snow.
Tihana and Jarrett Blanc had given up on digging, instead taking their dog, Hector, for a walk through northwest Washington during what forecasters said could be the biggest storm for the nation’s capital in modern history.
“Our car is stuck. We’re not even trying,” said Tihana, 36.
The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Washington, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The situation was the same in West Virginia, where some 400 National Guard troops were helping with snow removal.
Though the focal point remained the nation’s capital, people from Pittsburgh, across Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, New Jersey and West Virginia were dealing with snow being measured in feet instead of inches. It was still snowing Saturday in Philadelphia, virtually shutting down the nation’s sixth-largest city.
Walt Gursky, 28, braved the roads to go to the Philadelphia International Auto Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center downtown. The event was a ghost town.
“Last year when I came, there was a line getting in,” Gursky said in the normally mobbed facility. “Much more relaxing in here – you can actually see what you want.”
Hundreds of car wrecks were reported across the region, though only two deaths were reported – a father and son who died while helping another motorist in Virginia. By Saturday, most people couldn’t drive anywhere because their cars and roads were buried.
In Ellicott City, Md., Christine Benkoski said she was trying to dig out from at least 2 feet. As she tried to clear her driveway, she said she uncovered how the storm had transitioned from snow, to ice, then back to snow.
“I feel like an archaeologist,” Benkoski said.
“I’ve been out here for an hour, and my only goal is to get to the street.”
And President Barack Obama, a snow veteran from his days in Chicago, didn’t have a smooth day. He walked out of the White House midmorning to find the South Lawn, his backyard, looking nearly like an untouched wilderness. Instead of the familiar scenes of manicured lawns and clipped hedges, snow had piled on every shrub and the backyard was almost colorless.
First, there was a small fender bender on the White House south lawn. Then a tree branch, overcome with snow, cracked and fell on a motorcade vehicle with press inside when the president was coming back from a speech at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting in town.
Instead of a presidential limo, Obama rode in a black SUV covered with presidential seals.
Obama thanked Democrats for being “willing to brave a blizzard. Snowmageddon here in D.C.”
Noting the president’s hometown, DNC chairman Tim Kaine said “It’s like an April day in Chicago.”
After all that, the White House announced Obama would have no more outings for the day.
Meanwhile, Shawn Punga and his wife, Kristine, were making plans to move to a hotel if the power was not restored to their house in Silver Spring, Md. They were concerned for their 2-year-old daughter, Ryder, who was bundled up in thick pink pajamas and slippers.
“I have just been watching the thermostat. If it hits 60, that’s when we’re going to pack up,” he said.
Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services, and Amtrak and commuter trains ground to a halt. Some people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days.
At Dulles International Airport, part of a hangar roof collapsed and damaged some of the private jets housed inside, though no one was hurt, said Courtney Mickalonis, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Snow crews worked overnight, but “it’s coming down faster than we can keep up with it,” she said.
The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude – let alone two in one season – are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.
The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.
Despite the onslaught, some ventured outside for a chance to play. Snowballs were flying in normally bustling DuPont Circle, a major Washington thoroughfare. Hundreds of people gathered for a snowball fight with word spreading through Facebook, Twitter and TV commentators.
Carolyn Matuska, on the other hand, was loving the peace and quiet during her morning run along Washington’s National Mall.
“Oh, it’s spectacular out,” she said. “It’s so beautiful. The temperature’s perfect, it’s quiet, there’s nobody out, it’s a beautiful day.”
Hundreds of car wrecks were reported across the region, though only two deaths were reported – a father and son who died while helping another motorist in Virginia. By Saturday, most people couldn’t drive anywhere because their cars and roads were buried.
In Ellicott City, Md., Christine Benkoski said she was trying to dig out from at least 2 feet. As she tried to clear her driveway, she said she uncovered how the storm had transitioned from snow, to ice, then back to snow.
“I feel like an archaeologist,” Benkoski said. ”I’ve been out here for an hour, and my only goal is to get to the street.”
And President Barack Obama, a snow veteran from his days in Chicago, didn’t have a smooth day. He walked out of the White House midmorning to find the South Lawn, his backyard, looking nearly like an untouched wilderness. Instead of the familiar scenes of manicured lawns and clipped hedges, snow had piled on every shrub and the backyard was almost colorless.
First, there was a small fender bender on the White House south lawn. Then a tree branch, overcome with snow, cracked and fell on a motorcade vehicle with press inside when the president was coming back from a speech at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting in town.
Instead of a presidential limo, Obama rode in a black SUV covered with presidential seals. Obama thanked Democrats for being “willing to brave a blizzard. Snowmageddon here in D.C.” Noting the president’s hometown, DNC chairman Tim Kaine said “It’s like an April day in Chicago.” After all that, the White House announced Obama would have no more outings for the day.
Meanwhile, Shawn Punga and his wife, Kristine, were making plans to move to a hotel if the power was not restored to their house in Silver Spring, Md. They were concerned for their 2-year-old daughter, Ryder, who was bundled up in thick pink pajamas and slippers.
“I have just been watching the thermostat. If it hits 60, that’s when we’re going to pack up,” he said.
Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services, and Amtrak and commuter trains ground to a halt. Some people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days.
At Dulles International Airport, part of a hangar roof collapsed and damaged some of the private jets housed inside, though no one was hurt, said Courtney Mickalonis, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Snow crews worked overnight, but “it’s coming down faster than we can keep up with it,” she said.
The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude – let alone two in one season – are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870.
The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries.
Despite the onslaught, some ventured outside for a chance to play. Snowballs were flying in normally bustling DuPont Circle, a major Washington thoroughfare. Hundreds of people gathered for a snowball fight with word spreading through Facebook, Twitter and TV commentators.
Carolyn Matuska, on the other hand, was loving the peace and quiet during her morning run along Washington’s National Mall.
“Oh, it’s spectacular out,” she said. “It’s so beautiful. The temperature’s perfect, it’s quiet, there’s nobody out, it’s a beautiful day.”
Associated Press writers Carol Druga, Sarah Brumfield, Christine Simmons and Philip Elliott in Washington, Kathleen Miller in Arlington, Va., and Alex Dominguez in Baltimore contributed to this report.
Sam & Lindsay
It may well be over romantically between former lovers Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan — or at least for now — but that doesn’t mean that emotions, and tempers, aren’t still running high.
They are — so high in fact that RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned the twosome got into a bitter, heated fight Wednesday night, which culminated in Lohan throwing a drink in Ronson’s face!
“Sam was working her usual weekly gig DJing at Crown bar,” an eyewitness to the altercation tells RadarOnline.com. “Lindsay turned up around 11 pm and she was in the mood for trouble!
“Lindsay was drinking straight out of a bottle of vodka and I saw her take an orange prescription bottle out of her bag and pop a couple of pills that she said were Adderal, she even offered some of the pills to a friend that was with her.
“Lindsay was trying to get Sam’s attention, but she was working and studiously ignored Lindsay. You could see Lindsay getting more and more worked up the more Sam didn’t pay her any attention. At one point Lindsay was dirty dancing with this really pretty girl right in front of Sam, obviously to try and make her jealous.
EXCLUSIVE: Friend Says Lindsay Still Cutting Herself
“Sam just got sick of it all in the end though and started taunting Lindsay about her being all drunk and messed up. She said to Lindsay, “Why don’t you just have another drink?” and even told her, “You’re a disgrace”.
“That made Lindsay just totally flip out on Sam. She picked up a drink and threw it straight in her face! Sam was absolutely furious and picked up some DJ equipment that was by her and threw that at Lindsay. It was crazy!
PHOTOS: Lindsay And Ali In Bikinis In Hawaii
“Lindsay’s friend grabbed her and pulled her away before things got even worse, she was losing control. It took her ages to calm down and she was going off about Sam for ages.
“Lindsay just has absolutely no self control when it comes to Sam. She obviously still has feelings for her and she’s totally not over her. It’s a completely toxic situation.”
After the altercation it seems Ronson was still pretty worked up too. As RadarOnline.com exclusively reported Ronson turned up at another club, H.Wood, later that same night and threw a huge diva fit!
EXCLUSIVE: Sam Ronson Throws Diva Fit At Top Hollywood Club
Ronson insisted on taking over the DJ booth, pushing aside the house DJ, then proceeded to just play a mix-tape instead of a live set, prompting the club’s management to ask her to step-down.
Things became heated and Ronson stormed out of the club, but not before taking the audio cables with her, leaving the club unable to play anymore music for the rest of the night.
Looks like both Lohan and Ronson could do with a crash course in anger management!
Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
By Ellen Nakashima
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The world’s largest Internet search company and the world’s most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity.
Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.
Google and the NSA declined to comment on the partnership. But sources with knowledge of the arrangement, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the alliance is being designed to allow the two organizations to share critical information without violating Google’s policies or laws that protect the privacy of Americans’ online communications. The sources said the deal does not mean the NSA will be viewing users’ searches or e-mail accounts or that Google will be sharing proprietary data.
The partnership strikes at the core of one of the most sensitive issues for the government and private industry in the evolving world of cybersecurity: how to balance privacy and national security interests. On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair called the Google attacks, which the company acknowledged in January, a “wake-up call.” Cyberspace cannot be protected, he said, without a “collaborative effort that incorporates both the U.S. private sector and our international partners.”
But achieving collaboration is not easy, in part because private companies do not trust the government to keep their secrets and in part because of concerns that collaboration can lead to continuous government monitoring of private communications. Privacy advocates, concerned about a repeat of the NSA’s warrantless interception of Americans’ phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, say information-sharing must be limited and closely overseen.
“The critical question is: At what level will the American public be comfortable with Google sharing information with NSA?” said Ellen McCarthy, president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, an organization of current and former intelligence and national security officials that seeks ways to foster greater sharing of information between government and industry.
On Jan. 12, Google took the rare step of announcing publicly that its systems had been hacked in a series of intrusions beginning in December.
The intrusions, industry experts said, targeted Google source code — the programming language underlying Google applications — and extended to more than 30 other large tech, defense, energy, financial and media companies. The Gmail accounts of human rights activists in Europe, China and the United States were also compromised.
So significant was the attack that Google threatened to shutter its business operation in China if the government did not agree to let the firm operate an uncensored search engine there. That issue is still unresolved.
Google approached the NSA shortly after the attacks, sources said, but the deal is taking weeks to hammer out, reflecting the sensitivity of the partnership. Any agreement would mark the first time that Google has entered a formal information-sharing relationship with the NSA, sources said. In 2008, the firm stated that it had not cooperated with the NSA in its Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Sources familiar with the new initiative said the focus is not figuring out who was behind the recent cyberattacks — doing so is a nearly impossible task after the fact — but building a better defense of Google’s networks, or what its technicians call “information assurance.”
One senior defense official, while not confirming or denying any agreement the NSA might have with any firm, said: “If a company came to the table and asked for help, I would ask them . . . ‘What do you know about what transpired in your system? What deficiencies do you think they took advantage of? Tell me a little bit about what it was they did.’ ” Sources said the NSA is reaching out to other government agencies that play key roles in the U.S. effort to defend cyberspace and might be able to help in the Google investigation.
These agencies include the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Over the past decade, other Silicon Valley companies have quietly turned to the NSA for guidance in protecting their networks.
“As a general matter,” NSA spokeswoman Judi Emmel said, “as part of its information-assurance mission, NSA works with a broad range of commercial partners and research associates to ensure the availability of secure tailored solutions for Department of Defense and national security systems customers.”
Despite such precedent, Matthew Aid, an expert on the NSA, said Google’s global reach makes it unique.
“When you rise to the level of Google . . . you’re looking at a company that has taken great pride in its independence,” said Aid, author of “The Secret Sentry,” a history of the NSA. “I’m a little uncomfortable with Google cooperating this closely with the nation’s largest intelligence agency, even if it’s strictly for defensive purposes.”
The pact would be aimed at allowing the NSA help Google understand whether it is putting in place the right defenses by evaluating vulnerabilities in hardware and software and to calibrate how sophisticated the adversary is. The agency’s expertise is based in part on its analysis of cyber-”signatures” that have been documented in previous attacks and can be used to block future intrusions.
The NSA would also be able to help the firm understand what methods are being used to penetrate its system, the sources said. Google, for its part, may share information on the types of malicious code seen in the attacks — without disclosing proprietary data about what was taken, which would concern shareholders, sources said.
Greg Nojeim, senior counsel for the Center for Democracy & Technology, a privacy advocacy group, said companies have statutory authority to share information with the government to protect their rights and property.
A new poll of more than 2,000 self-identified Republican voters illustrates the incredible paranoia enveloping the party and the intense pressure drawing lawmakers further and further away from political moderation.
The numbers speak for themselves — a large portion of GOP voters think that President Obama is racist, socialist or a non-US citizen — though, when considering them, it is important to note that a disproportionate percentage of respondents are from GOP strongholds in the South (42 percent) as opposed to the Northeast (11 percent). Also note that this is a poll of self-identified Republicans, which means that independent Tea Party types are not included.
Nevertheless here are some of the standout figures as provided by Daily Kos/Research 2000:
- 39 percent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached, 29 percent are not sure, 32 percent said he should not be voted out of office.
- 36 percent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States, 22 percent are not sure, 42 percent think he is a natural citizen.
- 31 percent of Republicans believe Obama is a “Racist who hates White people” — the description once adopted by Fox News’s Glenn Beck. 33 percent were not sure, and 36 percent said he was not a racist.
- 63 percent of Republicans think Obama is a socialist, 16 percent are not sure, 21 percent say he is not
- 24 percent of Republicans believe Obama wants “the terrorists to win,” 33 percent aren’t sure, 43 percent said he did not want the terrorist to win
- 21 percent of Republicans believe ACORN stole the 2008 election, 55 percent are not sure, 24 percent said the community organizing group did not steal the election.
- 23 percent of Republicans believe that their state should secede from the United States, 19 percent aren’t sure, 58 percent said no.
- 53 percent of Republicans said they believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama.
During his appearance at the House Republican retreat last Friday, Obama explained that it was hard to forge bipartisan consensus when lawmakers were trashing his health care bill as a “Bolshevik plot”. These poll numbers show that the gulf preventing bipartisan consensus extends well beyond health care. How does a Republican lawmaker explain to his or her die-hard base that it is important to work on legislation with a racist, socialist president who is illegally holding office only because of the help of ACORN?
“This is why it’s becoming impossible for elected Republicans to work with Democrats to improve our country,” said Markos Moulitsas, founder and publisher of Daily Kos. “They are a party beholden to conspiracy theorists who don’t even believe Obama was born in the United States, and already want to impeach him despite a glaring lack of scandal or wrongdoing. They think Obama is racist against white people and the second coming of Lenin. And if any of them stray and decide to do the right thing and try to work in a bipartisan fashion, they suffer primaries and attacks. Given what their base demands — and this poll illustrates them perfectly — it’s no wonder the GOP is the party of no.”
Conan O’Brien’s exit deal dragged out over days,reportedly because the former “Tonight Show” host was negotiating with NBC for staff and crew severance pay-outs.
According to TMZ, though, the NBC deal didn’t go far enough and now Conan is paying for staff severance out of his own pocket.
TMZ reports that Conan’s “Tonight Show” stagehands were not covered in his exit package, so he has promised to pay the nearly 50-person crew “at least six weeks severance out of his own pocket.”
The crew union is “very happy” with Conan’s handling of the situation, TMZ reports.
Environmental experts at Yale and Columbia universities released their biannual Environmental Performance Index at the World Economic Forum. The index ranks 163 nations according to their performance on 25 indicators that fall into ten policy categories, which are as follow: environmental burden of disease, air pollution (effects on humans), air pollution (effects on ecosystem), water (effects on humans), water (effects on ecosystem), biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and climate change.
Iceland dominated the rankings, coming in 1st, while the United States came in at a mediocre 61st, a sizeable drop from its 39th place rank in the EPI’s last evaluation in 2008.
However, this year’s rankings cannot be compared accurately to the 2008 index, as “the scientists have shifted their methodology slightly as they seek to zero in on the fairest way to quantify the broad and nebulous area of environmental performance,” The New York Times reported.
Additionally, since most of the data pulled for the index are from 2007 and 2008, it is not an accurate representation of the Obama administration’s efforts to improve, the Times said. All the same, the U.S. falls far behind its fellow industrialized nations such as the United Kingdom, which came in at a respectable 14th place.
We’ve compiled 10 of the best, worst, and most notable nations in this year’s rankings. Which country best addresses your environmental concerns? Which one neglects them the most?
My comment: Too bad we’re 61st on this list!
Danielle Staub, the polarizing star of The Real Housewives Of New Jersey, is turning over a new leaf: She’s abstaining from all sexual activity until she’s married.
“I’m abstinent now,” she tells PEOPLE. “I realized that with abstinence, if you really, really believe in yourself like I do, you discover your own self-worth. Abstinence means you refrain from any sex — thinking about it, doing it — even to yourself! I’m a born-again virgin.” In fact, Staub says it’s been “over a year-and-a-half” since she’s had sex.
Staub, who according to multiple online reports began shooting the reality TV show’s season 2 in August for a spring premiere, says when she finds Mr. Right, she’ll return to an active sex life. “I am saving myself for marriage. I didn’t do it the first two times but I learned from my mistakes. So now, it’s okay to wait.”
So is Staub, 45, on a mission to marry? “Marriage is a goal of mine but not because I need it, but because I want it. It’s a big difference.”
But that doesn’t mean Staub is on the prowl for her next husband. “I will never find him, he’ll find me. I think the right one will see me. I want old-fashioned courting.”
And she’s not worried about a sex-free courtship, because, she says, the anticipation will be worth it. “Can you imagine what it would be like on the wedding night?” She’s also not worried about not finding her soul mate, telling PEOPLE, “It’s going to happen. Have you seen me?”
Meanwhile, Staub has very little time to worry about sex at all. “I’m very busy working, so it’s not even an option for me.”
Aside from being a single mom to daughters Christine, an IMG model, and Jillian, she’s releasing an autobiography, The Naked Truth, in the spring. And don’t expect to find much about her costars in its pages. “There are two sides to each story, and this is mine. They’re not part of it. It’s not about them. My life is my own. They’re not part of my life and never have been. They didn’t try to get to know me, so I moved upward and onward.”
Writing a book has been “an unbelievable experience,” she says. “It’s been the best experience other than having children.”
And her empire will expand beyond the literary world: Also in the spring, she’ll release a fitness and nutrition video, as well as an athletic-inspired clothing line, all of which mesh into Staub’s mantra of living life to the fullest: “Life is a gift, love is a blessing, so I want my gift and my blessing!” –David Caplan
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY
DALLAS – One person was injured in a shootout that took place just before rush hour Thursday on southbound Interstate 35E at Continental Avenue and Woodall Rogers.
Authorities said shots were fired from a red pickup truck just before 5 a.m. A driver of a black Cadillac, which had its windows shot out, was injured in the shooting. Police said the injured driver was not cooperating with authorities and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Police were alerted to the shooting by employees who had heard gunfire while working at a DART facility located just off the freeway.
The motive of the shooting is unclear and police are searching for the driver of the red pickup.
The incident caused major traffic issues after southbound I-35E was shut down for some time, backing up traffic for miles.
Jan. 27,2010
President Obama used his first formal State of the Union address to repeatedly scold the upper chamber of Congress. Six times, he called attention to ways in which members of the Senate are slowing or stymieing his agenda.
On a jobs bill, he urged the Senate to follow the House’s lead. On education reform, he demanded much the same. On comprehensive energy and climate change legislation, Obama noted that the House had completed its work and expressed his eagerness “to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate.” On a commission to help reign in the debt, he chastised the Senate for voting down a bill and pledged to set one up through executive order.
Those were just the policy critiques. Obama also chastised “a few individual senators” for holding “well-qualified public servants” hostage over “pet projects or grudges” (see: DeMint, Jim or Nelson, Ben). And then he took aim at the Senate GOP: “If the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well.”
Taken as a whole, the slights pleased some House Democrats who have long since passed the point of frustration with their compatriots on the other side of the Capitol.
“As you know, the Republicans are the opposition but the Senate is the enemy,” Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y) told Politico shortly after the speech. “The Senate, I think, was properly chided… they’re the meat locker at this point. And so I think it was very important that the president held that up.”
Privately, of course, Senate aides were fuming at what they considered gratuitous chiding. “He might as well say, ‘I hate the Senate,’” said one Senate Democratic aide. “Reid’s probably not liking this one bit.”
Others were more aggressive than defensive, noting that the president’s message would hold a bit more weight if his own White House practiced what he preached.
“It’s interesting that he’s focused on transparency in Congress when the White House made a number of closed-door health care deals last spring,” emailed another Senate aide. “I’m looking forward to the creation of WH-SPAN for future PhRMA meetings.”
“The reason things aren’t getting done is because there is an opposition party that is more inclined to call him a socialist and ask for his birth certificate than work with him to solve the problems facing this nation,” the aide added. “Quite frankly, Obama has not been ambitious enough.”
Apple announces ‘iPad’ touchscreen tablet
Steve Jobs calls it ‘truly magical’ and ‘revolutionary’ device
After months of rampant speculation, Apple Wednesday announced a touchscreen tablet computer, the “iPad” for consumers who want to take their movies, TV shows, music, games and reading with them, be it around the house or on the go.
“We want to kick off 2010 with a truly revolutionary and magical product,” CEO Steve Jobs told a packed audience at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“So far it really looks like an oversized iPod Touch, which is great, but if that’s it, price will be paramount,” said Avi Greengart, Current Analysis analyst, blogging from the event itself for Reuters news service.
The wireless device can be used with Wi-Fi, as well as run on AT&T’s 3G, or third-generation, wireless network. AT&T has been the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States since its release in 2007, and some were hoping that Apple’s new tablet would also work with other carriers’ networks, including Verizon Wireless.
AT&T will charge $29.99 a month for “unlimited use” and $14.99 a month for up to 250 megabytes, said Jobs. There will be no contract with AT&T required for the plans, he said.
The iPad weighs about 1.5 pounds, is 0.5 inch thin, has a 9.7-inch display and should have a battery life of 10 hours, Jobs said. It uses what he called Apple’s own 1GHz A4 chip, and flash memory, ranging from 16 to 64 gigabytes. The tablet has YouTube in high-definition built in to the iPad and Apple’s online iTunes Store, which will add an “iBooks” for purchase.
“Well, it’s official. Apple is competing with Amazon,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group research firm. Apple will use the “ePub” format, “joining Sony, Google and Barnes & Noble, he said.
The tablet uses multi-touch finger gestures and swipes like the iPhone, but the iPad’s “larger screen requires less swiping to navigate,” said Rubin. “That’s a big plus from the iPhone.”
Several uses of the tablet were shown during its unveiling, including e-mail, games, video and reading The New York Times on it. Martin Nisenholtz of The Times, on stage, said that the newspaper’s iPhone app “has been downloaded 3 million times,” and that the company wanted to “create something special for the iPad … We think we’ve captured the essence of reading the newspaper” on it.
Apple’s new product comes at a time when e-readers, like Amazon’s Kindle and others from Barnes & Noble and Sony are on the market, with more coming this year from companies such as Samsung and the Hearst Corp.
Last year, about 3 million e-readers were sold. Estimates are another 6 million will be sold in 2010 according to the Yankee Group. The Kindle, which has a 6-inch screen and sells for $259, has the bulk of the e-reader sales.
“There are about 6 million people who are gearing up this year to buy an e-reader. And they’re going to spend between $250 and $700 on it,” said James McQuivey, Forrester Research principal analyst. “They are already people who care about media, and who are willing to spend money on media.”
“So, if you can say to them, ‘Gee you can spend $350 on a dedicated book reader, or you’re going to get this amazing Apple device at twice the price, but with the ability to do much more than read books,’ ” then Apple’s tablet has a good chance of success, he said.
While many of the tablet’s functions — Web surfing, movie watching, music listening — can be handled on netbooks, lighter and relatively inexpensive laptops, Apple isn’t viewing its tablet as a laptop without a keyboard, McQuivey said. “Apple sees this as a personal media experience that they can create.”
The tablet’s “most revolutionary impact is on the way people consume media in the home,” he said. “You take it from room to room, you dock it next to your bed, it becomes your alarm clock. You dock in the living room, it’s a photo frame and a video server for your TV; you dock it in the kitchen, and it displays your recipes for you.”
Other major companies are coming out with their own tablets, with many of them announced at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month.
HTC and Google are reportedly jointly working on a tablet. HP and Dell are each planning their own tablets. Microsoft may be too, although during CEO Steve Ballmer’s speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, he shared an HP slate prototype, not Microsoft’s talked-about “Courier” tablet (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft.)
Pen-based tablet computers have been tried over the past decade with little consumer success, although they have made inroads in the business world.
Strong sales of Apple’s device are not guaranteed, especially with a still-shaky economy and netbooks — with prices of between $300 and $400 — continuing to be popular.
What may help Apple, said McQuivey, is that the company “isn’t thinking” of tablets as “selling laptops without keyboards,” as other manufacturers do; “Apple sees this as a personal media experience that they can create.”
ChangeWave Research, which surveyed 3,314 consumers this month, said there is “strong consumer interest” in an Apple tablet, and that 75 percent of those who are interested say they’d be “willing to pay $500 or more,” and 37 percent say they would pay more than $700.
Shopping site Retrevo.com’s survey of 500 consumers found that 70 percent of them said they will not spend more than $700 for an Apple tablet. Also, 44 percent said they would not buy such a device if it requires a monthly data plan for Internet access.
And while the iPhone and iPod have been huge sellers for Apple, the company has had its share of product launches that went “thud.”
Among them, the 1993 release of the Newton MessagePad, a pen-based tablet that cost around $800; the Power Mac G4 Cube in 2000, and Apple TV in 2007, a set-top box for streaming audio and video to a TV from a computer’s iTunes program
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2010 MSNBC.com
