The iPad! A revolutionary, game-changing product. But also, far from perfect. Let's help Apple out on that second front, shall we?

Don't feel like you need to stick to realistic improvements, either. Sure, me adding Flash to make Hulu usable wasn't too crazy, but please think outside the box here.

Send your best entries to me at contests@gizmodo.com with Improved iPad in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs under 800k in size (seriously, anything over will not be posted because our gallery system freaks out when we try to feed it lots of large files), and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Send your work to me by next Tuesday morning, and I'll pick three top winners and show off the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it!

"It's not widescreen!" you might've snorted about the iPad's display. Besides the practical consideration that a tablet w/ a 16:9 screen would be more awkward to hold, Lonely Sandwich's diagram explains a lot of what's going on there. [Lonely Sandwich]

The W555 from EVGA made a brief, blurry appearance at CES, but now we've got closer look thanks to bit-tech. And what an introduction: two LGA1366 processor sockets, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots and a questionably sane seven expansion card slots.

The W555 is designed to accommodate overclocking to begin with, and with that many PCI expansion slots, who knows how far you can push it. Actually, hopefully we'll all know sooner than later. It won't be available until later this year, but for now, it's time for all you performance junkies out there to start salivating. [bit-tech via Engadget]

Daring Fireball's John Gruber caught the WSJ's Walt Mossberg with Steve Jobs yesterday, and made three observations: Mossberg hadn't seen it before; he was realcurious about Office compatibility; and Steve was pissed Mossberg's sitting on the table. [Flickr via Gruber]

Remember, doing it yourself doesn't always mean you're making something look nicer. Sometimes you turn a perfectly good Honda motorcycle into a recumbent spearmint pod. It's worth it, though, when that pod gets 214mpg going 55mph.

Allert Jacobs designed and built this contraption from a Honda Innova motorcycle. In its previous incarnation, the bike weighed 231 pounds and got a still respectable—but not mind-blowing—114mpg.

By giving it an aerodynamic shell (that splits in half for easy entry), Jacobs has undoubtedly made his hog a much more efficient vehicle in all aspects, aside picking up ladies or applying to the Hell's Angels. [Allert Jacobs via Inhabitat]

If you say "iPad" to Fujitsu PR director Masahiro Yamane, he doesn't think about Apple. No, the only thing that comes to mind is Fujitsu's Windows CE-based iPad, from 2002. And soon, lawyers. Lots of lawyers.

This isn't the first time Apple's appropriated a name that existed before, but this time the story might not play out like it has in the past. According to the NYT:

Fujitsu's application to trademark the iPad name stalled because of an earlier filing by Mag-Tech, an information technology security company based Seal Beach, California, for a handheld number-encrypting device.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office listed Fujitsu's application as abandoned in early 2009, but the company revived its application in June.

The following month, Apple used a proxy to apply for an international trademark for the iPad. It has since filed a string of requests with the U.S. Patent Office for more time to oppose Fujitsu's application. Apple has until Feb. 28 to say whether it will oppose Fujitsu's claims to the iPad name.

This isn't quite as clear cut as Apple marching in and snatching a name from someone, so instead of just paying Fujitsu off, there's a good chance Apple will actually fight this. [NYT via DigitalDaily]

When asking each member of Giz what they planned on spending their hard-earned pocket money on this year, Jason Chen chose this shower. I'm sure after eyeing up this "cocoon shower stall" he'll change his mind.

Like an egg pod from space, the cocoon is not only a shower, but also a bathtub and hydro massager. Well, it would be, if it wasn't for the small fact that Arina Komarova's creation is just a concept. Rats. Still, at least I now know what to take to Bathroom & Tiles Co. when I want a new bathroom designed! [Yanko Design]

Well, AT&T just finished up a call to discuss their earnings announced earlier today. The verdict on 3G performance its most heavily trafficked cities: still needs work! A lot of it. They even gave us a chart to prove it!

Apple executives described the system overload as a "high quality" problem, which from a business perspective may be so, but consumers may categorize it differently. The good news is that there's undeniable improvement over the last several months, particularly in Manhattan. The bad news is that we're still pretty far below AT&T's arbitrary "performance objective," which is still going to be somewhere below perfect.

AT&T expects "significant improvement" going forward, and they're increasing infrastructure spending by $2 billion to back it up. But until one in every fifty 3G calls stops getting blocked or dropped nationwide, I'm going to have to believe it when I see it.

Huge billboards of FBI's most wanted have already been hoisted up in Times Square, but unfortunately that's not the only crim-soaked corner of the globe. Buildings across the UK are splashing scary mugs on them too, like the one above.

It's not just criminals apparently, with monuments and buildings proving to be the 21st century version of a milk carton, projecting images of missing people on them too.

A £3,000 ($4,841) projector is being used in Hampshire for ultimate exposure of the nasty wrong-doers' faces, though the brand is unknown. Anyone know? [Daily Mail]

As you're probably aware, the Apple iPad, like the iPhone and iPod Touch, doesn't support Flash. Apple has its reasons for this, but clearly Adobe isn't happy about it. Here's their response.

It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.

If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab — not to mention the millions of other sites on the web — I'll be out of luck.

Adobe and more than 50 of our partners in the Open Screen Project are working to enable developers and content publishers to deliver to any device, so that consumers have open access to their favorite interactive media, content, and applications across platform, regardless of the device that people choose to use.

The main arguments against Flash running on the iPad are that it's a resource hog and a security risk. Both true! Hopefully the web is moving away from relying on Flash for videos and ugly menus, with HTML5 acting as a more-than-adequate replacement. But we're not there yet. While I can appreciate the fact that Apple is trying to keep the iPad more stable by not including Flash, the fact that it kills off most online gaming and video streaming in the process makes the tradeoff questionable. [Adobe]

We've seen the ordeal the Google Street View guys were put through in order to photograph every street on Earth. But what about the guys tasked with photographing the entire planet? [CollegeHumor]

Do you live in New York, San Francisco, LA, Philly, Boston, Chicago, DC or South Florida? Then you have no reason not to download this app, which has stunningly complete restaurant listings with full menus for your entire city.

Since MenuPages doesn't do reservations (update: it does, though the restaurant's profile page! But only on select, OpenTable-ready restaurants) or emphasize a social function like Yelp, its strengths lie in its completeness—I've got about twice as many proper restaurants listed in my neighborhood on here than in Yelp—and raw information. With MenuPages, you're not looking up restaurants; you're looking up specific dishes, usually with listed ingredients. The app itself is minimalist, but not to a fault: listings are easy to access either manually or according to your current location, the refinement tools are just like the ones you're used to on MenuPages.com, and map/list search results are easy to sort through. And it's free. SO WONDERFULLY FREE. [MenuPages]

It gets tiresome, that old "Android doesn't have any games!" refrain, especially now that it's not really true. Disgruntled French site Android HD has compiled annotated video proof of at least 50 worthy titles. See, look! Right there! Fun. [AndroidHD]

AT&T made over $800 million in wireless data revenue last fall, thanks to a glut of new 3G users. Unfortunately, that also puts extra strain on their already-clogged data pipes. And we've still got all that iPad traffic ahead.

AT&T's plans to fix things up include a $2 billion increase in the amount of spending on their wireless network, and an increased focus on HSPA 7.2 (which the iPhone 3GS runs on) and LTE deployment. They expect the "majority" of mobile data to be on fiber-based backhaul (that's a good thing!) by the end of 2010, but honestly that long a time horizon makes me nervous.

There'll be a call at 10am EST to discuss earnings results further, and we'll listen in for any more interesting tidbits. In the meantime, the full release is below.

AT&T Reports Fourth-Quarter Earnings Growth with a 2.7 Million Net Gain in Wireless Subscribers, Continued Strong Growth in IP-Based Revenues, Record Full-Year Cash Flow

* $0.51 diluted EPS for the fourth quarter versus $0.41 in the year-earlier period
* $34.4 billion full-year cash from operating activities versus $33.7 billion in 2008, and $17.1 billion free cash flow, up 28.4 percent versus 2008 (free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital expenditures)
* 2.7 million fourth-quarter net addition in total wireless subscribers, the second highest quarterly net gain in the company's history; full-year wireless net adds totaled 7.3 million, equaling the company's best-ever annual total, to reach 85.1 million subscribers in service
* Best-ever fourth-quarter wireless subscriber churn levels – 1.19 percent postpaid and 1.44 percent total
* 2.6 percent growth in postpaid wireless subscriber ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber), eighth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year increase
* Continued robust growth in revenues from wireless data services such as messaging, access to applications and related services; up $805 million, or 26.3 percent, versus the year-earlier quarter to $3.9 billion
* 248,000 net gain in AT&T U-verseSM TV subscribers to reach 2.1 million in service, up more than 1 million in 2009, with continued high broadband and voice attach rates
* 18.8 percent growth in wireline IP data revenues driven by AT&T U-verse expansion and growth in advanced business solutions
* 17.0 percent growth in revenues from strategic business services such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), hosting and application services

Note: AT&T's fourth-quarter earnings conference call will be broadcast live via the Internet at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010, at http://www.att.com/investor.relations.

Dallas, Jan. 28, 2010 – AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today reported fourth-quarter results highlighted by solid momentum across key growth areas. Wireless service revenues grew 9.2 percent, driven by industry-leading subscriber growth and continued rapid adoption of data services. AT&T U-verse subscriber gains topped 1 million for the year. Wireline IP-based services and strategic business products both posted strong double-digit revenue growth.

Progress in these areas and continued solid execution of cost initiatives offset expected declines in legacy voice and print advertising products. Fourth-quarter revenues totaled $30.9 billion, net income attributable to AT&T was $3.0 billion, diluted earnings per share totaled $0.51 and cash from operating activities totaled $9.0 billion.

"We had a solid 2009 and led the industry in the biggest growth driver – mobile broadband," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. "Looking ahead, customer demand for connectivity, particularly mobile broadband and IP data, continues to be strong, and AT&T is well positioned at the center of this growth. Our fundamental outlook for the business is quite positive.

"Our significant investments in IP infrastructure – both mobile and fixed – provide the next-generation growth platforms for us," Stephenson said. "Our leadership in mobile broadband will continue to set us apart as we roll out even faster 3G speeds this year and begin deploying 4G capabilities in 2011. Our IP-based U-verse service continues to scale nicely, improving our consumer revenue profile. And we continue to see solid growth from mobile broadband and IP data services in the business segment."

Fourth-Quarter Financial Results

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2009, AT&T's consolidated revenues totaled $30.9 billion, compared with $31.1 billion in the year-earlier quarter and up slightly from the third quarter of 2009. This marked AT&T's third consecutive quarter with a sequential increase in consolidated revenues.

AT&T's operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $26.0 billion versus $26.2 billion in the year-earlier period. Operating income was $4.9 billion, compared with $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, and AT&T's operating income margin was 15.8 percent, the same as in the year-earlier quarter. Net income attributable to AT&T totaled $3.0 billion, compared with $2.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter, and earnings per diluted share totaled $0.51, compared with $0.41 in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In addition to solid operational performance, fourth-quarter 2009 results reflect severance charges related to workforce reductions totaling $330 million, or $0.04 per share, offset by $0.04 of benefits to earnings per share from tax audits and judicial developments. Year-over-year comparisons reflect incremental noncash pension and retiree benefit expenses in the fourth quarter of 2009 of approximately $250 million, or $0.03 per diluted share.

Fourth-quarter 2008 results included a severance charge of $617 million, or $0.07 per diluted share, related to workforce reductions and a charge of $445 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, for merger-related trust investment losses. Both quarters' severance charges are primarily reflected in the Other segment of AT&T financial statements.

Full-Year Results, Outlook

For the full year 2009, compared with 2008 results, AT&T's consolidated revenues totaled $123.0 billion versus $124.0 billion; operating expenses were $101.5 billion, compared with $101.0 billion; net income attributable to AT&T was $12.5 billion versus $12.9 billion; and earnings per diluted share totaled $2.12, compared with $2.16.

Compared with 2008 results, AT&T's full-year cash from operating activities totaled $34.4 billion, up from $33.7 billion; capital expenditures totaled $17.3 billion versus $20.3 billion; and free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital expenditures) totaled $17.1 billion, up from $13.3 billion. AT&T's 2009 cash from operations and free cash flow were the company' best-ever annual totals.

As it continues to execute its growth and cost-improvement initiatives, in 2010, AT&T expects to deliver stable consolidated revenues and stable-to-improved consolidated operating income margins, leading to stable-to-improved earnings per share. AT&T also expects to generate strong free cash flow in 2010, generally in line with 2008 results, even with a substantial increase in wireless capital investment to further enhance wireless broadband coverage, capacity and performance. Total 2010 capital expenditures are expected to be in the $18 billion to $19 billion range, a level framed by the expectation that regulatory and legislative decisions relating to the telecom sector will continue to be sensitive to investment. AT&T expects to achieve a wireless OIBDA service margin in the low 40-percent range in 2010, and its longer-term wireless OIBDA service margin outlook continues to be in the mid-40 percent range. (OIBDA service margin is operating income before depreciation and amortization, divided by total service revenues.)

Wireless Operational Highlights

AT&T's fourth-quarter wireless growth was driven by the company's premier nationwide network capabilities, rich access to applications and attractive device lineup. Highlights include:

* Strong Subscriber Gains. In the fourth quarter, AT&T posted a net gain in total wireless subscribers of 2.7 million, the second highest quarterly net add total in the company's history, reflecting rapid adoption of smartphones and emerging devices such as eReaders, netbooks and navigation devices. Full-year wireless net adds totaled 7.3 million, equaling the company's best-ever annual total, to reach 85.1 million subscribers in service. Retail postpaid net adds totaled 910,000 for the quarter and 4.3 million for the full year.
* Best-Ever Fourth-Quarter Subscriber Churn. Average monthly subscriber churn improved to best-ever fourth-quarter levels. Postpaid churn was 1.19 percent, down from 1.20 percent in the year-earlier quarter; total churn was 1.44 percent versus 1.64 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. This marked AT&T's sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement in both total and postpaid wireless churn.
* Sustained Robust Growth in Wireless Data Revenues. Wireless data revenues – from messaging, access to applications and related services – increased $805 million, or 26.3 percent, from the year-earlier quarter to $3.9 billion. Versus the year-earlier quarter, total text messages carried on the AT&T network increased 70 percent to 135 billion and multimedia messages more than doubled to more than 2 billion.
* Eighth Consecutive Quarter of Postpaid ARPU Growth. Driven by strong data growth, postpaid subscriber ARPU increased 2.6 percent versus the year-earlier quarter to $61.13. This marks the eighth consecutive quarter AT&T has posted a year-over-year increase in postpaid ARPU. Postpaid data ARPU reached $19.16, up 17.5 percent versus the year-earlier quarter.
* Strong Growth in 3G and Integrated Devices. Key drivers of AT&T's wireless data growth are increased penetration of integrated devices (handsets with QWERTY or virtual keyboards in addition to voice functionality) and greater usage of the company's extensive 3G network. The number of postpaid 3G integrated devices on AT&T's network increased by more than 4 million in the fourth quarter and nearly tripled over the past year. At the end of the year, 46.4 percent of AT&T's 65.1 million postpaid subscribers had integrated devices, up from 27.0 percent a year earlier. AT&T's fourth-quarter integrated-device growth included 3.1 million iPhone activations, the second highest quarterly total to date, with more than a third of the activations for customers who were new to AT&T. The average ARPU for integrated devices on AT&T's network continues to be 1.8 times that of the company's nonintegrated-device base.
* Leadership in Emerging Devices. AT&T's fourth-quarter subscriber gains also reflect strong growth in wireless connectivity for emerging devices including eReaders such as the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader Daily Edition™ and the Barnes & Noble nook. Total emerging devices on AT&T's wireless network increased by more than 1 million in the fourth quarter, its strongest quarter in this category to date, predominantly reflected in reseller subscriber totals.
* Wireless Margin Improvement. AT&T delivered year-over-year margin expansion and sequential margin stability in the fourth quarter – reflecting continued low churn, improved operating efficiencies and further growth in the company's base of high-quality subscribers. Fourth-quarter wireless service revenues totaled $12.6 billion, up 9.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008, and operating expenses totaled $10.4 billion, up 2.4 percent versus the year-earlier quarter. Versus the fourth quarter of 2008, wireless operating income was $3.4 billion, up 27.4 percent; wireless operating income margin was 24.7 percent versus 20.9 percent; and wireless OIBDA service margin was 38.8 percent, compared with 35.8 percent.

Wireline Operational Highlights

AT&T's fourth-quarter wireline results were highlighted by further expansion in AT&T U-verse services and sustained mid-teens growth in revenues from strategic business services. Highlights include:

* Solid, Consistent AT&T U-verse Gains. AT&T U-verse TV subscribers increased by 248,000 in the quarter to reach 2.1 million, up more than 1 million over the past year. This was the company's fifth consecutive quarter with AT&T U-verse TV net adds above 240,000. More than three-fourths of AT&T U-verse TV subscribers have a triple- or quad-play option from AT&T. AT&T's U-verse deployment now reaches approximately 23 million living units. Companywide penetration of eligible living units now approaches 13 percent, and across areas marketed to for 24 months or more, overall penetration exceeds 20 percent. AT&T's total video subscribers, which combine the company's
U-verse and bundled satellite customers, reached 4.2 million at the end of the year, representing 16.0 percent of households served.
* Improved Broadband Growth. AT&T U-verse broadband continued its strong growth with a net gain of 267,000 wireline consumer subscribers in the fourth quarter. This growth, combined with continued solid gains in standalone broadband, more than offset declines in traditional DSL connections for a 167,000 net gain in consumer wireline broadband connections. Total broadband connections, which include business and consumer wireline subscribers and wireless customers with 3G LaptopConnect cards, increased by 171,000 in the quarter to reach 17.3 million.
* 31.8 Percent Growth in Revenues from Consumer IP-Based Services. Increased AT&T U-verse penetration drove 31.8 percent year-over-year growth in consumer IP revenues (broadband, U-verse TV and U-verse Voice) and a 3.7 percent increase in revenues per household served. Consumer IP revenues now represent 34.7 percent of AT&T's consumer wireline revenues, up from 25.3 percent in the year-earlier quarter. AT&T's combined wireline consumer TV and broadband connections increased by 394,000 in the quarter and 1.8 million over the full year 2009. AT&T U-verse Voice connections increased by 219,000 in the quarter and 730,000 for the full year 2009. AT&T's total consumer revenue connections at the end of the year were 45.3 million, compared with 45.7 million at the end of the third quarter of 2009 and 47.0 million at the end of 2008, reflecting declines in traditional voice access lines partially offset by increases in broadband, TV and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) connections.
* Mid-Teens Percentage Growth in Revenues from Strategic Business Services. Revenues from new-generation capabilities that lead AT&T's most advanced solutions – including Ethernet, VPNs, hosting, IP conferencing and application services – grew 17.0 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, continuing trends of recent quarters. Total business revenues declined 5.5 percent versus the year-earlier quarter, reflecting economic weakness in voice and legacy data products, and were down just 0.4 percent versus the third quarter of 2009 – their best sequential comparison in five quarters.
* Improved Growth in Business IP Revenues. Business IP data revenues grew 7.3 percent versus the year-earlier fourth quarter, led by better than 20 percent growth in VPN revenues. Approximately two-thirds of AT&T's frame customers have made the transition to IP-based solutions, which allow them to easily add managed services such as network security, hosting and IP conferencing on top of their infrastructures.
* Improved Wireline Revenue and Margin Trends. Fourth-quarter total wireline revenues were $16.2 billion, down 5.3 percent versus the year-earlier quarter and down 0.9 percent sequentially – the company's smallest declines in four quarters. Fourth-quarter wireline operating expenses totaled $14.3 billion, down 2.7 percent from $14.7 billion in the year-earlier quarter, as productivity improvements offset expenses associated with AT&T U-verse expansion and incremental noncash pension and retiree benefit costs, which totaled $236 million in the quarter. Compared with the year-earlier quarter, AT&T's fourth-quarter wireline operating income totaled $1.9 billion versus $2.4 billion, and the company's wireline operating income margin was 11.6 percent versus 14.0 percent.

Laugh/cry about Nokia all you want, but when it comes down to cold, hard figures, they're still performing well. They've seen a 65 per cent increase in net profits for the last quarter, shipping 126.9m units in the period.

Those 126.9m units shipped in the fourth quarter are 12 per cent more than the previous year, no doubt helped by their recent N900 and N97/N97 Mini launches, which went down a storm in Europe and Asia. Americans still aren't embracing Nokia like the rest of the world though, with only 3.8m of those 126.9m units being sold in the States.

Giving away Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn navigation for free should help those numbers rise even more, but they'll be needing to work on some solid hardware launches to reel in the punters. Reports of cutting smartphone launches in half just don't help matters, Nokia. You've still got to get your act together. [TechCrunch]

British wit and tech maestro Stephen Fry has—rather predictably—scribed a 2,180 word essay about the iPad, after we spotted him skulking around with the whiskey-drinking Jonathan Ive. If only he'd written it on an actual iPad.

Infamously purchasing the second Mac to be sold in the UK (after Douglas Adams), Fry has admitted yesterday's event was the first time he's "joined the congregation at the Church of Apple for a new product launch."

Sticking with the religious metaphor, he described the launch:

"Like the first iPhone, iPad 1.0 is a John the Baptist preparing the way of what is to come, but also like iPhone 1.0 (and Jokanaan himself too come to that) iPad 1.0 is still fantastic enough in its own right to be classed as a stunningly exciting object, one that you will want NOW and one that will not be matched this year by any company."

Looking towards the next generation of iPad:

"In the future, when it has two cameras for fully featured video conferencing, GPS and who knows what else built in (1080 HD TV reception and recording and nano projection, for example) and when the iBook store has recorded its 100 millionth download and the thousands of accessories and peripherals that have invented uses for iPad that we simply can't now imagine – when that has happened it will all have seemed so natural and inevitable that today's nay-sayers and sceptics will have forgotten that they ever doubted its potential."

While he's quick to point out his adoration of the iPad, he's not blinkered to its shortcomings:

"There are many issues you could have with the iPad. No multitasking, still no Flash. No camera, no GPS. They all fall away the minute you use it. I cannot emphasise enough this point: "Hold your judgment until you've spent five minutes with it". No YouTube film, no promotional video, no keynote address, no list of features can even hint at the extraordinary feeling you get from actually using and interacting with one of these magical objects."

Listing the reasons to buy one, he admits the Apple badge is reason enough:

"2. It is made by Apple. I'm not being cute here. If it was made by Hewlett Packard, they wouldn't have global control over the OS or the online retail outlets. If it was made by Google, they would have tendered out the hardware manufacture to HTC. Apple - and it is one of the reasons some people distrust or dislike them - control it all. They've designed the silicon, the A4 chip that runs it all, they've designed the batteries, they've overseen every detail of the commercial, technological, design and software elements. No other company on earth does that. And being Apple it hasn't been released without (you can be sure) Steve Jobs being wholly convinced that it was ready. "Not good enough, start again. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough." How many other CEOs say until their employees want to murder them? That's the difference."

His diatribe goes on for several pages, so if you've got enough time it's worth a read—if only for his sparkling sense of humor cutting through the many gushings of adoration. [Stephen Fry via T3]

Daguerreotype cameras are the great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers of the devices we use for snapshots today. Recently the earliest—and with an expected price of 700,000 euro, the most expensive—examples of such a camera was rediscovered in a private collection.

If you've got between 200,000 euro, the auction's starting price, and 700,000 euro, the expected final price, and a weakness for old, wooden sliding-box cameras then this one's for you. It's got the signature of its name sake, Jacques Mande Daguerre, and was actually built by his brother-in-law.

This is a neat piece of shutterbug history and I truly hope that it ends up in a museum collection where it can be viewed by the public rather than disappearing into another private basement museum. [Slashgear]

Archos' first Android tablet, the Archos 5, didn't quite live up to its promises,but a second leaked Android tablet from the French could prove more feature-some if realized, with a front-facing webcam and new 7-inch size.

Thanks to a slip-up by the UK retailer Data-Mind, we've got photos and specs of the tablet, which will apparently go on sale in March for £149.99 ($242). It'll have 8GB of onboard storage, a webcam, and 7-inch LCD screen with 800 x 480 pixels. That's 2.2-inches more than the Archos 5, with the storage being the same.

It's not just hardware which will be upgraded between the models, with the software being upgraded too. Song lyrics support, and compatibility for the APE file format will be included, and ArchosFans, which were eagle-eyed enough to spot the leaked product, are speculating about the missing Archos Media Center widget from the homescreen.

Hey, I realize it's difficult to get excited about a non-Apple tablet today, but try and show a little enthusiasm for this potential leaked device? Hmm? [Data-Mind via ArchosFans via ArchosLounge]

Turns out, Apple's veil of secrecy applies internally, as well. Former engineer Edward Eigerman spoke with Bloomberg News this morning about the atmosphere at the company before a major product launch—turns out, it's not all wine and roses.

Eigerman has a unique perspective on the extreme lengths Apple goes through to prevent leaks, having been fired for accidentally slipping software to a client a week early.

The upside is that only a very few people in Cupertino know what's actually going to be announced today, so they're as excited as the rest of us! The downside is that they're also likely in a debilitating paranoiac state. But, hey, you take the good with the bad, right? [Bloomberg via Cult of Mac via 9to5 Mac]

The reason Windows tablets have sucked is that they've crammed desktop interfaces onto tablets. Assumedly, the Apple tablet's magic is in the interface. So it's funny that Apple's secret tablet from over 14 years ago made the same mistake.

The Newton was still in production. But what Apple secretly pitched to select medical centers over a decade ago wasn't a Newton. It was a 10-inch-or-so tablet, running an interface that was much, much closer to the full desktop Mac OS—Mac OS 8 at the time—modified with pen input. Though pitched to the medical market, it was a general-purpose computer that was in the advanced prototype stages. It never shipped. (Much like another ancient Apple tablet.) That's the story, according to one of the few medical personnel who saw the monstrosity.

Imagine something like this, but not quite as swishy.

After this Mac OS tablet was apparently killed in the night, we wouldn't hear about another tablet until after Jobs returned, talk of Inkwell in 2000—the pen input software ultimately built into OS X—with the word of a "tablet" first emerging in 2003.

Apple's still interested in medical IT applications, actually, one place tablet PCs have actually managed to gain traction. Last year, it quietly partnered with Epic Systems, one of the major electronic medical records companies, to test software on the iPhone for accessing patient medical charts. Perhaps less than coincidentally, Apple execs have supposedly been spotted making visits with some frequency to Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in LA, to talk about a new device, and how the hospital might use it. An Apple tablet would make for one very fancy clipboard.