With the usual Apple drama and anticipation, Apple CEO
Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, a tablet that his company
is banking on to set a design standard that will make the
tablet a must-have device for the technically savvy. Check
out e WEEK Labs’ first hands-on look at the device. (And, for
more, see Page 27.)
tinyurl.com/yk8ajat
LABS IS ON-SITE AT IPAD
ANNOUNCEMENT
The advent of the Apple tablet and the rash of tablet releases
in early January at the Consumer Electronics Show generated a lot of questions (again) about the viability of the tablet
form factor. In the enterprise, the tablet may be DOA. There’s
more to like about tablets from the consumer side, but what
e WEEK Labs Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant really
wants is a “couchlet.” Here’s
his vision for a device that
would make home tech life
heaven on earth.
tinyurl.com/y8lbkw4
APPLE TABLET? NAH, GIVE ME
A ‘COUCHLET’
Digital tools drive Ford
Today’s automotive designers are getting a boost
from the latest digital tools, with the ability to
test-drive cars before they ever leave the drawing
board and using the latest advances in collaborative communications to draw upon the talents of
artists, engineers and scientists in real time, from
all around the globe. In a rare glimpse behind the
scenes of Ford’s secretive Design Center in Irvine,
Calif., the company’s director of strategic design,
Freeman Thomas, discusses how IT and digital
technology are empowering the design process
and helping Ford achieve its business objectives
now and in the future.
tinyurl.com/ya934w3
ORACLE OUTLINES HOW IT WILL
MELD SUN INTO ITS CULTURE
NEWS
At the end of last month, Oracle explained to the
media how it is morphing Sun—the creator of Java,
Solaris and the Zettabyte File System—and its 27,600
employees into Oracle’s database-driven world. Oracle
executives, including President Charles Phillips, EVP
of Hardware Engineering John Fowler, EVP of Product
Development Thomas Kurian and Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Epstein, addressed a standing-room-only audience
at Oracle’s on-campus auditorium. Because Oracle
is now one of the world’s elite full-service information technology providers—the most prominent others
being IBM and Hewlett-Packard—topics at the nearly
daylong press event ran the gamut of IT: from SOA to
storage, from chips to content management, and from
portals to patch management.
