Google Voice Finally Heads to iPhone, Palm Pre With HTML5 Webapp

What's the solution to Apple's stinginess about Google getting an official Google Voice app on the iPhone App Store? A webapp that has about all the functionality, but usable on any HTML5-capable smartphone.

The webapp mimics the functionality of hitting up Google Voice on your desktop. You can make calls, send texts, listen to voicemails, change your settings and access your contacts all from your phone's browser. It syncs up with your Google account's contact list—not your iPhone's contact list—so you'll have to make sure to sync your contacts to Google first. The Pre however, if you already have your GV account as one of your contacts, should have a more transparent process.

Unlike the Google Voice app now, which calls your phone first and then connects the other party, you actually dial out directly into the Google Voice service, which then hooks you up with who you're trying to reach. It's going to be like the 406 numbers that Google Voice users are used to using for shortcuts to their contacts, but possibly not 406, since Google has a pool of numbers they are using.

Google also tells us that you can add dialing credits directly from the phone if you want to make overseas calls, saving you the trouble of having to get on a computer.

All in all, the experience is solid and fluid, mimicking an iPhone app as best as possible on a web interface. If we had any gripes, it would be that when you're texting someone from your contacts list, it only grabs the phone number and doesn't display the name after it. Also, that you can't text multiple recipients. But calling from your contact list is fluid and takes only one more step than regular dialing from your iPhone.

It's not as good as a native app, but it's more than adequate. [Google Voice]

The Apple Tablet Week – 10 Year Old Video of Steve Jobs Defining Apple

Sometime after 1997 when Jobs returned to Apple, he gave this motivational speech defining Apple and their "core beliefs". While wearing shorts. While we can't promise he'll be sporting bare legs this Wednesday, this minute-long clip is powerful stuff.

My favorite quote from the video shows the lack of modesty that Jobs manages to deliver so well:

"What we're about isn't making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well."

But if you're wanting to create a motivational desktop wallpaper featuring his photo and a choice quote, you can't go wrong with this little gem:

"Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better."

The Apple Tablet Week – Apple rumor roundup: 'the day before' edition

We'll just come right out and say it: we couldn't possibly be happier to see that January 27, 2010 is tomorrow. Shortly after 10AM on the left coast, Stevie J himself will finally put a hush to the rumors that have been swirling constantly over the past fortnight or so (and we'll be there live to cover it). Till then, however, we've got one more round of scuttlebutt to serve up. Kicking things off is a New York Timesreport that explains in some level of detail what exactly the supposed Apple tablet will feature in terms of specifications. To quote: "It will run all the applications of the iPhone and iPod Touch, have a persistent wireless connection over 3G cellphone networks and Wi-Fi, and will be built with a 10-inch color display, allowing newspapers, magazines and book publishers to deliver their products with an eye to the design that had grabbed readers in print." We shall see.

Moving on, we've got even more whispers that publishers -- with the NYT mentioned specifically -- around the globe have been getting wind of this thing as the suits in Cupertino attempt to nail down content deals. Broadcast Engineering even has a piece that straight-up states that Apple was "was in New York City last week showing the tablet to media companies as a new way to sell books, newspapers and other reading material through its iTunes online store." Still not convinced? NetbookNews has anapparently ongoing article about the authenticity / non-authenticity of a Media Markt tweet that "accidentally" leaked a supposed €899 price point for the device, while Hot Hardware switches things up and reports that AT&T will lose its iPhone exclusivity during tomorrow's event. Oh, and the very first hands-on review of the Apple tablet is also live (courtesy of Mosspuppet), while yet another hotly contested image has arisen to perch atop these very words. Phew.

The Apple Tablet Week – Publishers Say Apple Tablet Won't Be Near $1000, Won't Have a Lot of Books Until Mid 2010

9to5Mac claims that they've talked to a few content publishers (magazines, newspapers), and those publishers are claiming inside knowledge about the device. Most importantly, that it'll be "[nowhere] near $1000, as has been reported elsewhere."

These publishers 9to5Mac talked to didn't actually see any prototypes, but it was described to them as a 10-inch glass screen that's smaller than a Kindle DX, but "with a similar weight." That the software is going to be the "game changer" is nothing new, but Apple's supposedly going around describing the tablet in comparison to the Kindle as the change from black and white TVs to color.

Other interesting bits: current ebook distributors on the App Store now are going to get screwed once Apple's official one hits, and don't expect a lot of content until "mid 2010 at the very earliest." [9to5Mac]

The Apple Tablet Week - The Apple Tablet

Dates Back to 1988

Since Wednesday is going to be the day the revolutionary and fantasized 'Apple Tablet/Slate/Pad (or whatever the !&*! you want to call it),' I have dedicated this week to it and only stories about the Tablet.

Apple started working on Newton in 1989, but as this infographic shows, the first seeds of tablet technology were sown well over a hundred years ago.

While we don't expect the iSlate iPad Apple tablet to come with a 19th-century stylus, this still provides great perspective on how long it's taken to get us to this point. Let's hope it lives up to history's expectations. [lalawag]