You've probably seen the rumors flying all over the internet about Apple's next product launch - the tablet computer, currently dubbed the "iSlate". I don't seem to be able to avoid coming across speculation and excitement over the much yearned iSlate. We've seen a steady progression of Apples products from the iPod to the iPhone, and there is very little reason right now to refute claims that Apple won't continue the trend with a tablet.

Some things I have heard though, are somewhat confusing... perhaps it's just Apple fans hyping and dreaming, but I've also heard equally unfounded claims that seem to come from the haters as well. So, here's my short list of what the iSlate won't be: Read more »

Looks like Microsoft may be taking a page out of their old DOS book, and encouraging younger computer enthusiast to get into programming.
Small Basic v0.7 was released somewhat recently, however I only found out about it late last week. Instantly upon writing my first Hello World program in Small Basic it reminded me of playing with QBasic back in they day. I mean, it's not an ugly DOS interface or anything. In fact, it's a really nice looking environment so far. That being said, it's still in early development so the IDE isn't exactly the most functional.

Back to the QBasic comparison though, Small Basic really reminds me of QBasic for the obvious reason that it's a BASIC derived language. But also because it operates in much the same way - no need to compile the program, no need to understand a complicated IDE, and no prerequisites to jump in and start learning it.

The interface is actually really nice, with some features on the horizon that could really make this a simple and productive way for beginners to learn programming. The language is clearly built with hooks into the .Net 3.5 framework (if not entirely within). Read more »

So, I guess Google must be in release mode or something. Because I've just found out Google have released another new product: Google Dashboard.

Dashboard is supposed to show you everything associated with your Google Account. I could explain it in detail, since I've had a bit of a play with it... but you can just watch this video:

More details after the jump... Read more »

Google have released their core JavaScript developments tools to the wider community. Apparently they hope that faster, more reliable internet applications will be developed using the same technology used to build popular web apps such as Gmail and Google Docs.

From the Closure site:

Read more »

A new Wave Manual written by LifeHacker founder Gina Trapani along with LifeHacker editor Adam Pash has been released - online free to read. The Complete Guide to Google Wave was announced this week on This Week in Google - one of Leo Laporte's live TWIT.tv Podcasts.
Trapani stated she managed the production of the whole book entirely in Google Wave, and noted she ran into a few minor problems (like inviting the wrong people to a wave etc). Trapani also mentioned she would have loved to author the whole book in Wave, but didn't feel Wave was up to the challenge yet, since it is still in development and has a few flaws before it would be up to that challenge. Read more »