If you thought today’s Apple WWDC was going to be all about the iPhone, think again. Much information has been swirly around the internet over the past few weeks about what other products Apple might unveil at 6pm GMT today. There has been talk of Apple TV getting a huge redesign, the launch of Safari 5, the next update for Snow Leopard but not necessarily this. The Apple Magic Slate/Trackpad, both names are guesses. Pictures and info after the break.

This would appear to be a brand net input device from Apple following on from the success of its multitouch trackpads on its Macbook Pro line and the Apple Magic Mouse. This device will connect to desktops using bluetooth much like the Apple keyboard and allows you to control your screen in gesture based fashion and support handwriting recognition also. Anyone who has used one of the latest Macbooks will attest to how much simpler this can make navigating and organising a screen. It seems Apple’s affinity for touchy-feely input  will be making its way to more and more products.

Is it real? It’s quite likely that it is given that Apple filed for a Trademark on the name Magic Trackpad earlier this year. Only time will tell. Until 6pm!

via Engadget

Some really interesting videos of when Steve Jobs took stage this week at D8 to answer questions from the Wall Street Journal and from the floor. Speaking about Flash Steve explains that when they took the decision to not include Flash on the iPhone OS when launching the iPhone, they spoke with Adobe, expressed their concerns about its speed and power consumption and asked Adobe to come back to them when they had a better product, they never did. He then goes on to say that whilst some users were disappointed nobody made too much of a fuss with the iPhone. When the iPad launched, Adobe were publicly outspoken about the exclusion of Flash from the iPad, regardless of the fact that they had not improved their mobile platform. In response, Steve published “Thoughts on Flash”. Here he mentions that Apple just got sick of Adobe trash talking their products even though they had failed to bring anything new to the table. The second video, after the break, aptly demonstrates just how passionate Jobs is about their products and is a real glimpse into why Apple takes some of the restrictive steps it does.

Oh and by the way, since launch, Apple has sold an iPad every 3 seconds!

via AllThingsD

Google went on record this week stating that they were abandoning the Windows operating system within its offices and stipulating that employees must chose a machine running either Mac OS X or Linux. Word has it that Google will be replacing all machines running Windows within its headquarters due to the security risks the operating system imposes.

This move comes largely in response to the attack that took place on the company’s Chinese branch earlier in the year with IT leaders apparently viewing Windows as too much of a security risk to their enterprise. New employees are now only being offered Mac or Linux and any current employee wishing to continue using Windows will require ‘very senior clearance.’

At present Google’s business currently plays home to around 20,000 windows licenses which, much to Microsoft’s dismay, are now no longer likely to be renewed. Of course, the official Microsoft stance is something along the lines of Windows being just as secure as any other operating system. Google doesn’t seem to agree.

It’s official (sort of), Mac and PC are no more. The five year relationship between the try-hard PC and the supportive yet tastefully condescending Mac have been removed from the Apple site and replaced with an altogether more dry advertising campaign explaining why you’ll love a mac. Paying homage to the iconic campaign the OneMoreThingPodcast has put together a brilliant montage of many of the best 30 second gems. Fair well PC (John Hodgman) and Mac (Justin Long) we knew you but for too short a time.

Earlier this week somebody silly from Yahoo said that Google was only known for search and that they needed to diversity in order to be successful… Don’t worry the rest of the internet had to read that twice too. Here is a prime example of how wrong Mrs. Yahoo was as Google demonstrates that Chrome is faster than sound, and fries. Lightening?

As a recent Apple convert I have often found Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ campaign highly amusing and poignant. News today would suggest that Apple’s long stretch of PC and Mac antics is set to end with Justin Long (Mac) indicating in an interview that “they might be done”. This article led me to an archive of all the ‘Get a Mac’ ads spanning from 2006 to 2009 and ultimately to the above advert from 2008. The last line of the song is of epic hilarity for smug converts like myself. Your can find the entire archive of adverts here at AdFreak.

Today’s the big day for iPhone fans in what has been an uncharacteristically vocal week from Cupertino. Obviously Apple’s media event to unveil their roadmap for iPhone 4.0 is invitation only however the GU team will be here with its very best copy-and-paste skills to bring you all the news as it happens.

Multitasking, exposé, redesigned home screen? Who knows. Its unlikely we’ll here any new hardware announcements today but we can only hope.

GU tip: Look out for the introduction of iAds and join us here at 5.30pm.

As if every Apple fanboy wasn’t already having the week of their life, Apple just went and unleashed this gem unto the world to literally turn the internet upside down with hysteria. Apple has announced an iPhone OS 4 event onApril 8th at 10AM PT for a “sneak peek of the next generation of iPhone OS software.” So clear your calendar (as if you could possibly have anything more important to do) and check back here on Thursday for another GU Liveblog of the even as it unfolds. I’m going to lie down.

Today Geeky Gadgets has the low down, courtesy of an anonymous informer, on the release date and price of the iPad in the UK.

Information was only available on the WiFi only version of the iPad and is purported as follow:

• 16GB Wi-Fi model will be £389 (converted US price at today’s exchange rate £326)
• 32GB Wi-Fi model will be £439 (converted US price at today’s exchange rate £392)
• 64GB Wi-Fi model will be £489 (converted US price at today’s exchange rate £457)

As expected these prices do not reflect the price of the device on US soil at today’s exchange rate, instead they are markedly higher.

The sourse also suggests that whilst there is no information yet on the pricing of the 3G models, the WiFi version is more likely to hit the UK in April as opposed to March.

Obviously this information should be taken with a pinch of salt until any official announcement from Apple but its more than likely that these prices are reflective of reality considering past product launches.

Due to impending examinations and lack of revision, today’s post is brought to you directly from Macrumors.com.

Unfortunately, we already know how this story ends. Apple introduced the iPad in late January and made no mention of a camera – either on the front or back of the device. So that means no video conferencing or even photos are possible on the first generation device…. and yet, it seems like they had everything in place for it already. For example, the enclosure has an empty space for the camera and the SDK has accept/decline video chat references.

Here are some even more tantalizing pieces of information found in the latest Beta 3 iPad SDK. We’ve been told that if you go digging into Apple’s private framework which controls the camera, the iPad SDK tests for 3 additional camera characteristics that are not found in the iPhone 3.x SDK. For comparison, Erica Sadun has a code listing of iPhone 3.x PLCameraController.h on her site. The Beta 3 iPad SDK version adds these additional test conditions for the device’s capabilities.

It seems Apple built in API support to test to see if your iPad had a Front Facing Camera, Zoom and a Camera Flash. The front facing camera would, of course, be used for video chat, while Zoom and Camera Flash are often requested features for the iPhone’s camera.

Further investigation (via 9to5Mac) even reveals the following icons which clearly show an interface to accept or decline a video chat:

Given the size of these buttons, they were intended for use on the the iPad’s screen rather than the iPhone. We’re not sure why these features were dropped on the first version of the iPad, but we hope to see it again in future versions of the iPad or even iPhone.

Thanks to Macrumors for saving me from imminent failure.