It's true that the iPad has received some severe badmouthing, but according to a recent Apple press release, Apple has just taken their trademarked “it done broke, here’s a new one” policy of customer service to a new extreme.  Apparently if your battery life starts to get below what you’d like it to be, then that qualifies as broken under the Apple Care plan.  It carries a surcharge with it, but WOW.  Given the subjective nature of “insufficient” battery life, this is basically a $99 “gimme a new one” clause.

Well, if you were wondering WHY Verizon is so sure that the wireless world will no longer be an all you can eat buffet of data, look no further than their recent acceptance of data based voice communication. Not only will their phones now allow access to Google Voice, but they are actively participating in their phones' usage of Skype Mobile. It seems as though one of the biggest telecom giants on the block has finally admitted that they can't stop data based voice. Naturally, the only thing to keep from hurting the bottom line would be to charge for Data.

In addition to their prophecies of restricting web access with download caps and such, it seems that Verizon is adding some stranger restrictions on its products. Apparently if you want a Verizon based Nexus One, you'll only be able to get it directly from Google. This isn't particularly surprising, but it is a bit silly. It is their phone (well.. partly theirs anyway); and they can sell it any way they want, but there isn't much that making it a "web exclusive" would do for sales. What's more interesting is that in the same leaked document that revealed this fact, was an implication that the new phone might be running HTC's custom mod "Sense."

According to a Verizon bigwig, the age of flat rate internet is over. This has some analysts up in arms; not surprising, or undeserved. Unlimited internet access for a single flat price is quite frankly, awesome. The loss of such a convenience would do more than just irritate web junkies, but it has the potential of crippling the cloud. Part of the premise behind the marketing of web based tools is the fact that accessing them is essentially free. Every business in a mall would suffer the same consequences if the mall suddenly decided to set up a toll booth at the front door.

On top of all their recent software pushes, Google decided to put a little icing on the cake; and this icing is green.  The new Google Bike Maps is a web based service that works allot like the normal Google maps, except it is designed to promote and encourage the usage of bikes.  Rather than just showing you basic road topography and giving you directions (both of which it can do), it has a number of features geared towards making logistic biking actually effective.

With the advent of the Google App Marketplace, there is a question on many analysts' lips: how will this actually effect Microsoft?  The new marketplace’s focus on business applications combined with the recent acquisition of DocVerse is clearly a play at Microsoft's business supremacy.  Will this actually effect them, and if so how will Microsoft react?

Well, there may yet be some fight left in Google’s app war.  Google has just officially released the new Google App Marketplace.  It seems that someone in the ivory towers at Google was thinking; because this is very much what they needed.  By centralizing cloud applications under a major corporate banner and being extremely easy on third parties who want in, they are playing to all of their strengths.  For only $100 and 20% of sales, any developer can host and sell their applications through Google’s cloud network.  This way, they keep their faux anarchist hacker charm while providing us software consumers with the stability we want.  The use of the marketplace, of course, costs we the consumers nothing.

Naturally with the e-book market about to get a full gust of wind in its sails, Microsoft feels it's now time for them to enter the race. They have recently announced the upcoming release of their new e-journal, the Courier.  This little guy looks to be sporting two screens, though it remains to be seen whether either of them are long-term staring friendly. 

Even if you aren’t willing to void the warranty to make the screen easier to look at, you might get  a kick out of the iPad as a competitor to the Kindle.  Heck, if certain surveys are correct, you will almost certainly chose it over the other e-book readers on the market.  Without drawing too much attention to the fact that thee sales would likely have more to do with the oscars than technology, this begs the question as to what effect the iPad will have on the e-reader/e-book market as a whole?

 

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If you decided to skimp on the warranty for your laptop or have no problem voiding it, your in luck. Custom maintenance and modifications are going to be made available. By Pixel Qi later this year.  Specifically, they are offering DIY kits to convert your laptop screen to an e-ink LCD screen.  No more glare from the sun; no more putting up with that cracked screen; and no more headaches from spending too much time in front of the screen without taking eye breaks.  

The great thing is that this conversion kit might actually make the iPad a viable competitor with other e-book readers.  The biggest problem with the iPad as an e-reader was that, while the battery life can last practically forever, your eyes can only look at its normal screen for so long without straining and causing headaches.  This solves that problem and makes it actually better than the kindle.  The only problem is that this would almost certainly void AppleCare, and the accompanying “it done broke, here’s a newer better one” policy of fixing every problem.  

Well, if failing to fully support their operating system  like they’ve promised us wasn’t enough sabotage, apparently the Nexus One’s hardware is starting to fail.  First, the screens are already starting to develop cracks in them after only months of having been released.  Upon inspection, apparently these cracks are a result of wear and tear from pressing buttons and (get this) being put in people’s pockets.  The representative actually said "people sometimes forget that they don't go in pockets."  Maybe companies sometimes forget that they DO go in pockets.  Only half of us have purses to carry our phones around in thank you very much.

 

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Well, when Google isn’t sabotaging itself, all that “wrench in the gears” mastery is artfully turned on their competitors.  If there’s one thing that they haven’t forgotten how to do, it’s how to ruin the day of someone charging for software that they think should be free.  This time, Google has upped the ante in their freeware crusade against Microsoft office by acquiring DocVerse.

 

As we all know Google has been quite good at fighting and sabotaging Apple in their smartphone war. From hacking their way around app bans, to interceding on court cases that have nothing to do with them. Unfortunately, while they are remembering the first rule of competition, they seem to be forgetting another "first rule": don't forget about your own product, while you're trashing your opponent's. As some analysts are pointing out, the fragmentation effect to open source and free software is already taking hold. With just months between their releases, Android 2.0 and 2.1 are different enough that compatibility issues are becoming a major problem. We're not completely ready to give up hope for the Android platform. If it wants to be a real OS, Android needs SOME stability.

There is one slight glimmer of hope left for HTC in their upcoming legal battle.  Google has publicly announced their support for HTC.  At first this may seem a bit strange, but it really shouldn’t be that surprising.  Not only have Google and Apple been feuding and taking potshots at each other for quite a while, but given the precedents at stake the Apple HTC suit is more of an attack on other smartphone providers as a whole than it is about HTC in particular.  What then happens if HTC successfully defends itself (perhaps with the help of Google)?

What sort of precedent would an Apple victory set for the world of smartphone technology? Given the fact that Apple apparently is now revealing that they have patents to technology used by every smartphone on the market, things could be looking bleak for everyone who isn’t them. Heck, if you want to use a proper touch screen or even icons, you technically have to ask Apple’s permission. If they are successful in this lawsuit, the precedent will be set that every remotely user friendly smartphone on earth would be made illegal to produce or sell, except by Apple of course. Even the pundits in the video below agree.