If you’re been waiting for an excuse to use that extra $499.00 you’ve got burning a hole in your wallet, Apple may have just given you one. Today, the company announced, via their website, that it will begin shipping its brand new tablet device, the iPad, on April 3rd and will begin taking pre-orders on March 12th.

This is great news for those of you who want to take your eBook reading to the next level and also for people who never jumped on the Kindle bandwagon. It’s also great news for those of you looking for a super-sized iPhone that will run all those cool apps without having to agree to a lengthy contract with AT&T. Although, if you do want to have such a contract (and 3G wireless), the iPad with 3G will be available later in April, complete with said AT&T contract.

Even though I’ve pointed out a few things I feel the iPad is missing (although some, like the camera, may actually be there after all) I still feel there’s some merit to the device. I would be even more excited if I didn’t already have a Kindle, which I feel, as a “single use” device, is actually better for reading books than the iPad will be.

Still, the iPad definitely has a lot of possibilities and I look forward to exploring those come April 3rd. Expect a full review of the iPad once I get my hands on one. Until then, if this device is truly for you, better start saving those pennies because April 3rd isn’t that far away.

Seeing as how I use AT&T daily in Los Angeles and find the 3G service to be spotty and occasionally non-existant, I have a bit of a hard time believing that AT&T’s 3G network speed is actually the fastest. However, based on a recent study conducted by PC World, that seems to be the case.

The study, a collaboration between PC World and wireless analysis firm Novarum, took place from December 2009 to January 2010, and compares the four major U.S. wireless carriers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile) in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle on both mobile phones and laptop data cards

Highlights of the study include:

• AT&T: average download speed 1410 Kbps, average upload speed 773 Kbps

• Sprint: average download speed 795 Kbps, average upload speed 396 Kbps

• T-Mobile: average download speed 868 Kbps, average upload speed 311 Kbps

• Verizon: average download speed 877 Kbps, average upload speed 434 Kbps

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If you happen to be one of the people still using your original XBox console to connect to XBox Live and play with your friends, your days of enjoying this kind of fun are numbered. Microsoft, in its quest to get people to upgrade to the XBox 360, has already discontinued the original XBox in late 2008 and stopped supporting it in March 2009.

Now, the Redmond Giant will be cutting off original XBox owners from XBox Live starting April 15. Yep, that’s it. So, if you’re one of the people playing Halo 2 online you will still have a couple months to keep the fun going. Then, it might be time to disconnect the old console, join the rest of us in the new century and upgrade to a shiny new XBox 360.

Or, you can just play your multi-player games on your own. Heck, you could even invite some of your friends over for a good, old fashioned, LAN party. That is, if they actually remember what a LAN party is. But really, with prices dropping all the time on new consoles, isn’t it time to make the jump? New toys are fun, I promise.

Today, Netflix announced it will be adding another gaming console to its list of streaming video partners: the Nintendo Wii. The companies are teaming up to bring Netflix’s streaming media service to the console this spring. Of course, in order to take advantage of this service, Wii owners will need to have a broadband internet-connected Wii (who doesn’t?) and a subscription to a minimum $8.99 Netflix plan.

Now the bad news. Similar to the service on the PS3, the Wii will not have an embedded application like it is on the XBox 360 and instead will require a Netflix application disc which must be inserted in the Wii while accessing content. Given that, still ready to jump on board? If so, you can sign up now to receive additional information and reserve an application disc at Netflix’s website.

Even with having to use the disk this is still great news for those of you who use a Wii and don’t have an XBox 360 or PS3. We realize that not everyone can have more than one console and many people prefer the Wii over the other two. So, even though it took some time, we’re glad this service will finally be available for you — silly inserted disk requirement not withstanding.

In the wake of the recent release of the Motorola Droid and HTC’s Droid Eris, smartphones featuring Google’s Android software are some of the biggest sellers in the market right now. So it comes as no surprise to geeks and Google fanatics alike that this week, Google officially unveiled its very own Android-powered smartphone:  the Google Nexus.

The device, the first smartphone completely designed by Google and manufactured by HTC, features Android 2.1 software and a host of other interesting features such as a 1Ghz processor, Google’s latest map software, an 800 x 480 display, a 5 MP camera with LED flash, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and pretty much any other thing you might want in a smartphone. For the full specs, check out this page. Of course, it is powered by Google’s Android software which also gives you access to thousands of useful applications to enhance your Nexus.

Initially, the Nexus will be released for T-Mobile or unlocked in the US but will also come to Verizon and Vodaphone later this year in the Spring. To order, head on over to Google’s very own order page and get one for yourself.

As most people are surely aware, Apple’s iPhone is a dominant force in the explosive smartphone market. People are attracted to its ease of use and iTunes integration have purchased the device in droves, in some ways because their wasn’t really a viable alternative. That is, until now.

That alternative is the DROID from Motorola and Verizon. Powered by Google’s Android OS and featuring many of the same features as the iPhone, the DROID is poised to become the newest “must have” device for this holiday season. That said, it should come as no surprise that the DROID has been seeing some really successful sales numbers since its release in early November.

In fact, it is getting very close to its target of one million units sold by the end of the fourth quarter. Actual sales figures are reported to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 to 800,000 devices sold, which is nearing Verizon and Motorola’s goal and already well over analyst predictions.

If Verizon sees a big holiday sales bump, that number can easily top one million. As someone who is currently evaluating a DROID, I can say it definitely is a great device. But is it better than the iPhone? Time will tell.

Unfortunately, at least according to the buzz over at Apple’s support discussion forums, it seems there’s somewhat of a pattern where brand new Quad Core i7 iMacs are showing up DOA or with a cracked screen, mostly in the lower left corner. As if waiting weeks to receive a custom ordered Core i7 iMac wasn’t bad enough, now you have to deal with these issues as well. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Still, anyone buying a first generation product as advanced as the Quad Core i7 iMac should be aware that these types of cutting edge products can have issues. The first model of anything is usually not the one you want to go out and get. That is, unless you like to be a de facto “Beta Tester’ for the product.

Some around the Internets have speculated that the packaging might be inadequate for the giant 27″ computers and the bumpy journey from China to the USA is what’s causing the screen cracking issue, but one would like to think that Apple wouldn’t make such an amateur mistake, especially given their penchant for innovative and thoroughly reliable packaging. Fortunately, according to reports, Apple is taking care of customers in these situations but it is a bit of a bummer after watiting several weeks or months for a new iMac, only to have it need to go in for service.

With the holiday season upon us, its also not a great time for Apple to be shipping products with problems. Still, given their track record with sales and their ever increasing share of the marketplace, this one little (or two little) issue probably won’t have much of an effect on their bottom line. In short, I think Apple is gonna be just fine.

Apple rarely, if every, discounts its products so this latest “leaked” brochure, which seems to showcase the consumer electronics giant doing just that should be taken with one of those ginormous grains of salt. Still, if true, these deals do look pretty sweet and seem far more reasonable than other reported “deals’ being shown around the Internets.

If its a little difficult to see the fine print, we’ll give you a hand and highlight some of the deals. They are available only at Apple’s online store, and include iMacs starting at $1098, iPod nanos starting at $138, iPod touch starting at $178, MacBook Pros starting at $1098, Apple TVs starting at $208, Airport Express starting at $88, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard going for $64 each, and a whole lot more.

We realize that the deals are pretty hard to read over there on the right, so be sure and click through to see a much larger version. Good luck on Friday and be safe out there.

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The Apple Tablet, a device that Apple has neither announced or confirmed, has reportedly been delayed and will go into production later than expected. This means that you can line up for the mythological device sometime in late 2010 now instead of the rumored and unconfirmed early 2010. Don’t you feel better knowing that information?

The release delay, according to DigiTimes, is reportedly being caused by last minute design change, specifically, the use of a 9.7″ OLED LG display. The article also speculates that the delay is a strategic move by Apple due to the current cost of the OLED panels, which run around U.S. $500.00 wholesale. The price of LG’s panels are expected to drop quite a bit in late 2010 as they revamp production with newer facilities and equipment.

Of course, this whole Apple Tablet is still just a rumor, so delays in manufacturing a product that doesn’t actually exist should not be much cause for concern. Although, you might want to tell that to publisher Conde’ Nast, who are reportedly already grearing up to feature their magazine content on the device, starting with their flagship publication Wired. Hey, maybe there is something to this Apple Tablet thing? Guess we’ll find out sometime late in 2010. That is if it isn’t delayed again by a shortage of something like pixie dust.