Ipad

Opera, makers of mobile web browsers popular on those platforms that don't yet have a WebKit browser (ouch, but yeah) has announced that they're going to show off a version of their Opera Mini proxy browser at Mobile World Congress (MWC) to partners and press.

I'm not a huge fan of proxy browsers in general -- where web data is rendered on Opera's servers, compressed, and then sent down to your phone. They remind me of those old "dial-up internet accelerators" that just cached everything locally. As broadband grew, the need for them evaporated. They also break secure connections, since they're doing the actual web calls on their server, so things like online banking become an issue for the paranoid.

Opera makes a good point, however -- for people in countries where data isn't "unlimited" but paid-per-megabyte, or for people roaming in other countries, proxy and compression can be a big money saver.

When iTunes Music went DRM-free and "hits" jumped from $0.99 to $1.29 stories soon followed that the higher price point was leading to slower sales... and now that iBooks and publishers aim to increase eBook sales from $9.99 to up to $14.99, MediaMemo is telling them to "beware!":

Venture Beat claims a "very trusted" source has informed them that Apple's PA Semi team might not have been behind the new iPad's Apple A4 chipset:

PA Semi didn’t do the A4. It was the existing VLSI team. Apple has made custom chips for years like the Northbridges for G4 and G5.

According to a study by Retrevo of more than 1000 randomly selected individuals, it seems as if the consumers interest in Apple's iPad has dwindled considerably since it was announced back on January 26th.

"As we like to say, it’s the apps that sell smartphones like the iPhone and it could very well be those same apps that motivate buyers to run down to the Apple Store and get in line to buy a shiny new iPad. Whether this device becomes a big hit is anyone’s guess but based on this study it sure looks doubtful."