The Director-General of Apple, Steve Dzhobs was not feeling well enough to participate in the marathon of meetings of the Council on Tuesday night for the fate of his Woodside, California, mansion, according to his lawyer.

“I do not think it will be strong enough, if we are here until 1 o’clock in the morning, and I think there is a high probability that,” said Howard Elman, the ‘representative to the Woodside Town Council, as reported in the San Jose Mercury News . Work is currently on medical leave from Apple, and is scheduled to return to his regular schedule by the end of June.

Anyone who has ever participated in a mildly contentious town meeting on the zoning issues will likely look for every excuse to avoid having to attend another. But one of the most topical issue for Apple in the second half of this year will be the health of its founder, after the company made its public health to deal with revelations in January that the jobs are suffering from hormonal imbalance.

The question of what to do with Jobs’ huge mansion in Woodside to be unresolved, despite a lengthy meeting. How to apply for permission to demolish the existing house and build a smaller house on the property in 2001, but some locals believe that the house has historical value and want to save it.

Sometimes, information can be gleaned from the most unexpected sources. In the not yet released iTunes 8.2, Blu-Ray referred to the “About iTunes” screen saver.

For those not well versed in the world of computers Apple, Mac machines do not currently support Blu-Ray discs. Although you can install third-party optical drives in the Mac Pro, you’ll still have to boot into Windows to read Blu-Ray media. However, if iTunes is going to allow a gap of these disks, we can finally see and Macs MacBooks with a fully integrated Blu-Ray discs, and support.

Back in October, the executive director of Apple, Steve called on the famous Dzhobs Blu-Ray and its licensing of the “bag of hurt”, implying that it was too expensive and too complicated now for Apple, to add Blu-Ray drive for Mac. The work, however, is downplaying certain technologies, up to the day, Apple releases a product, as it has for many years with video games iPods.

All this is just speculation now. But if there is any announcement of the Blu-Ray will support him, perhaps at the upcoming Apple WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference), held in San Francisco from June 8 to 12.

Is the world finally ready for mobile minitablet?

It became clear over the past few months that Apple is ready to bridge the gap of mobile computing with plans to develop a device that fits somewhere between iPhone and MacBook. The recent Wall Street Journal article states that during his leave, the executive director Steve Dzhobs is working on the secondary mobile device, more than the iPhone, but smaller than the MacBook.

And just this week, BusinessWeek reported that Apple is developing a “media platform” that will allow users to watch videos on the screen more than IPod Touch or Amazon kindle, but also to the device, which is more portable than laptops, and has no keyboard.

In the personal computer industry has long sought to make such a device, in reality, but with the exception of some early successes in the lit, no one was able to convince the public that attempts released so far - such as ultra-mobile PC - it is worth buying. Instead, the computer company is looking for increased mobility will find a way to reduce notebook, rather than to seek new ways to use computers.

Back in 2000, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been evangelizing Tablet PC, but a combination of price and uninspired software in this category are destined to a niche status. Intel and Microsoft became advertising vehicles for UMPC (later rebranded MID, or Mobile Internet device), which a few years later, not exactly flying from the shops.

Most recently, PC company covers Netbooks, small mininotebook inexpensive computers that are designed for basic Web surfing and e-mail. Netbooks, but even more depressing the PC industry in the gross margin and try to cram a full-fledged notebook user interface in a small package, and it does not appear that Apple is all that crazy about this category.

But Apple has developed some unique ideas for mobile PCs in the past two years that have resonated with designers, developers and users, namely the iPhone OS and applications Store. So this time, finally, the right to tweener computer?

BusinessWeek reported that the iPad (name stolen from Silicon Alley Insider for its brevity) is about the size of the Amazon kindle, but with a screen that covers most of the surface. In the kindle is 7.5-inches in length, but the screen only 6 inches, compared with the iPhone to sport 3.5-inch display, and the smallest MacBook uses a 13.3-inch display.

Previous attempts to make the keyboard less than devices with 7-inch or 8-inch screens - such as UMPCs and MIDS - haven’t taken the imagination of the public. Microsoft and Intel has high hopes for the concept in 2006, which was also known as Project Origami inside Microsoft. Samsung has made perhaps the best UMPC was but do not say much, and interest in the category quickly faded after the launch of the iPhone.

The problem with UMPCs is the lack of compelling software. They were intended to run Windows XP, which itself was not designed to run on a device with such a small screen and limited input methods. And when you start Windows Vista is actually a step backwards in terms of its suitability for mobile devices.

In the Samsung Q1 was perhaps one of the best UMPCs / MIDS, but it never amounted to more than the market.

Intel tried to switch to Linux MIDS circumvent resource problems Windows Vista, but his partners, even before receiving any traction. And no attempt has been able to encourage third-party developers in creating applications designed specifically for mobile platforms.

Apple iPhone in OS, however, has been developed for small-screen mobile environment. Installing iPhone OS 3.0 for the iPad Apple will maintain the user interface with the iPhone and IPod Touch and keep the device simple: the more complex (and power hungry), your operating system is not required for a computer like this.

It will also allow Apple to take advantage of APP Store, giving iPad thousands of applications for it right from the moment of launch. One potential problem with this approach is that developers have to rewrite their iPhone applications to adapt to the large size of the screen on this new device, said Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory, creators of Twitterific.

Hockenberry, who is very confident that Apple has such a device in the works, I do not think that this will be a huge obstacle, but developers will have to gauge whether the additional development effort is worth their time. One thing, Apple could do is a separate section in the App Store for the iPad-optimized applications, while finding a way to run old applications in the iPhone kind of compatibility mode.

“It would not be difficult for Apple to” Classic “environment in the tablet contains a 320×480 window to run one or more applications, iPhone”, Hockenberry said in an e-mail. “It would be a smart thing for them: There is an instant, tens of thousands of applications and users are presented a familiar interface (that looks a lot like the toolbar in Mac OS X.)”

In iPad may also be the first Apple product on the surface of the chip designed by PA Semi, which Apple does not buy on the rooster. A custom chip will be able to solve two problems for Apple - the need to maintain software compatibility with the ARM-based chips that are used to run the iPhone while delivering greater performance for HD video playback, and better games, that competitors might not be able to immediately match.

With such a device cost? There are two schools of thought about the price.

UMPCs, at about $ 700, were too expensive, but because they do not offer any value, not because of a sticker price. It would be difficult to Apple claim that one iPad with HD screen, thousands of applications, as well as chief of the mobile browser is only slightly more than what people are willing to pay for the original iPhone.

A $ 699 iPad would slot nicely between the IPod Touch and MacBook Apple line of products and the preservation of Apple’s profits, while companies to reduce prices over time, if necessary, by analogy with the original iPhone.

But Apple may also connect with a wireless carrier - we’ll save AT & T v. Verizon debate for another day - to subsidize the iPad. The company is reportedly in talks about distributing MacBooks operator of wireless communications through friends, as AT & T, which already sells a 3G-equipped Netbooks with the subscription plan.

A device such as this would be a much more attractive with a wide area wireless networks, not just Wi-Fi - in particular, if the carrier subsidies bring the price to about $ 499, just above the largest IPod Touch. It is difficult to understand, it is replaced by a large cell phone - you’re not going to hold one of these measures to the head - there is, but certainly a lot of headsets in the world.

This is the last line of the promised convergence of computers and communication devices: an average of device. This change has already happened in the smartphone, but it seems very plausible that for many people, smart phone screens are too small for serious computing.

If Apple is indeed working on such a product, it will have to get the implementation right, to avoid duplication of the failure of so many other mobile computing applicants. But, with the promise of the public raised the basic mobile PCs, Apple could best be used as necessary into something more.

FriendFeed new look, which was launched as an optional feature for brave beta testers, is now the default for all. The company reflects the switch on it this afternoon, and, like previous redesigns no way to revert to the old version. Go to beta.friendfeed.com simply leads users to normal.

Along with the new look, the company has updated his post on the e-mail tools. Previously, users had a special email address they could send to the elements that go directly to their feed. Users can use this one, but there’s now a central mail that anyone can send (share@friendfeed.com), in which the data from your account at the address you send it, and then sends it to the right feed. It also allows users to send direct messages to one another with username@friendfeed.com e-mail address.

For users who miss the old design, this Greasemonkey script that nixes Net FriendFeed the new gray background, and makes some minor font and size settings to see how a similar timeframe.

Since the beginning of his Dictionary.com application for iPhone and IPod Touch in early April, the people at Dictionary.com were plotting other iPhone applications that use the tools that they have received: grammar, spelling, synonymic power. And while they are on it, possibly to duplicate the success of their numerical reference app, which floated to the iTunes Top 10 since its launch, and which collapsed more than a million downloads in the first three weeks.

Explorer of the noble aspirations of a class of Miss Spell, and the proportion of 99-ok, that despite its name, the letter-grade scoring, and the nostalgic background of college-ruled paper, Dictionary.com insists is aimed at their core demographic of high school and university students, as well as business professionals.

(List of participants: Dictionary.com) application is simple. You will quickly determine which of the 20 words in the round are spelled correctly or incorrectly. Points of knocked on the inaccuracy and added to your total time. If it takes you 40 seconds to go in the list, but you get two wrong, your score spikes up to 60 seconds, and B. So save pokiness to review your account and kicking themselves for random errors.

The game is pretty all right, as well as the test in his path that Sats and other standardized tests - taunting in their simplicity and debasing to miss when the word that you should know. At least you’re not alone - with misspellings, that you have on-site facility is siphoned directly from the top 5000 words failed Dictionary.com concluded in the amount of 2 million typos and flubs a month.

However, there are a few light RAP in line we would have done. In test games, ‘consiencious “was paired with’ consensus’ rather than with” good. “In addition, we are not quite convinced the game will make us smarter, yet Dictionary.com receipts in the definitions, and perhaps pronunciation guide from free Dictionary.com iPhone app. Miss Spell class as several one-dimensional. Although the name of this game is just the beginning, we would like to be instilled with different skill levels and game modes, where you can actively Spell the word, and not just passive withdrawal, or quickly choose the right configuration with a handful of choices. There must be different skins to pull in the class of the school the young, the old fogeys and tweens who are too cool for school, and the competition for Wi-Fi.

Some of these additional functions to wait for recognition. In future versions are planned that will be in the shadow of hard words dictionary contents, and on Thursday, Dictionary.com produces its anagram game, anagram cracker for the Internet, who uses the site Thesaurus content.

As a result, while Miss Spell class is an original and challenging, we know, Dictionary.com, you can do better.

P.S. If you’re curious, here in the top 10 most frequently misspelled words, when looking at Dictionary.com: Of course, a separate sense, savvy, communication, accounting, embarrassed from time to time, inconvenience, and dilemma.