In this case, I would argue that it has less to do with apple, and more to do with foresight. The SGX line of devices that will have access to the OpenCL drivers have been in devices since 2008, including the beloved n900/Galaxy Tab. However, the majority of next gen tablets may not have access to a developed GPGPU framework like OpenCL due the the choice of SoC and lack of vision.

What's key here is vision. You're bang on when you argue that there are many ways to do GPGPU, and that there are other competing technologies, but it would seem that imagination is leading the pack with its USSE2 engine and now OpenCL 1.0 compliance.* I would bet a small subset gifted developers would even consider using GPU shaders for a non-graphic purpose on any device and even then, I bet there are serious limitations in the shared memory available for GPGPU computation.
* Point of interest: Imagination is ~9% owned by apple and some ~16% owned by intel (wikipedia), which may indicate the limits of their influence.

I don't believe I said 'winning' but I was trying to infer that Apple has access to unified method of GPGPU computing that may be closed off to other devices for lack of development (but not necessarily capability). This puts them at a tactical advantage and ahead of the pack, especially with such a competent GPU (SGX543).

In short, I don't know of another chipset that has a GPGPU strategy, and it seems that the iPad 2 is the only major tablet on the market with the SGX543 and OpenCL. Whether they use this remains to be seen.


Somewhat off topic:
I would also say that DSPs are quite specialized, and may not be perfectly appropriated for new tasks, especially from a developer-productivity standpoint, where creating a general computing algorithm would be far more intuitive than re-purposing a DSP.

Oops! They did it again! Is anyone seeing this problem on the iPads?

Time Change Reveals More iPhone Alarm Clock Bugs
By Bob Bhatnagar - Published March 14th 2011 - 19:30 in alarm clock • iPhone Applications • iPhone Software • News
The iPhone has mishandled another time change as clocks across the continent were set forward one hour this weekend to mark the beginning of Daylight Savings Time (DST). Reports have surfaced on Apple forums, Twitter and other venues of frustrated iPhone owners missing appointments and experiencing strange behavior on their devices.


The DST bugs run the gamut from iPhone clocks jumping backward instead of forward by one hour, alarms going off an hour early, and phones switching to DST properly but later in the day undoing the change. Apple has not announced an official reason for the clock problems, but they are easily fixed.

To correct the DST clock issues on your iPhone, simply reboot the device. Alternatively you can turn on Airplane Mode then turn it back off. This will reset the connection to your cellular data provider. Typically the iPhone collects time data from the service provider to keep the clock accurate. The DST problems reportedly affected both AT&T and Verizon customers in the US.

The iPhone is no stranger to alarm clock bugs, with the most recent problems hitting users in the first days of 2011. Right after the New Year many alarms failed to go off at their scheduled time, leaving those without a backup alarm sleeping. Apple stated they were aware of the problem and working on a fix for the issue. The move to Standard Time in the fall of 2010 was also a rough one for the Clock app.

The time change to one hour earlier didn't take with any alarms that were already set. Many iPhone owners saw their alarms go off one hour late and had to delete and re-create repeat alarms on their devices. iOS 4.3 was just released last week, but it's not clear whether or not this update made the clock immune to the most recent DST problems. When all else fails, it's possible to manually set the time by navigating to Settings -> General -> Date & Time -> Set Automatically -> OFF and entering the time zone, date and time.

Conspiracy theorists, start your engines..

There is a claim that Apple is handicapping web apps launched from the homescreen as they run much more slowly than if launched via Safari.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03...n_home_screen/

What's more is HTML5 offline mode isn't working, which is a major feature bullet for HTML5. Of course, many browsers have somewhat spotty support for HTML5 features, as it is still quite young.

I'm not one to subscribe to Conspiracy Theorist's Monthly, but something certainly smells fishy...

This actually doesn't look half bad:


http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/03/han...ad-hands-free/

I've heard that iPads in bed are somewhat uncomfortable (I find this true with large items like laptops). This looks a bit messy, but like a comfortable system!

@Capt'n

What is your take on the upcoming PlayBook and Touchpad?
http://www.palm.com/us/products/pads...pad/index.html, http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/

I think that the Touchpad is a lot more interesting and possibly a decent alternative to the iPad?

Both of those tablets look interesting!

I really like what I'm seeing come out of Palm on the tablet front. The specs look great, and the OS has a wonderful UI, which should be a pleasure to use. I just hope that the application support matches the devices potential.


The playbook, I'm less interested in, for a couple of reasons.
1) To use 3G you need to have it tethered to a BB. Even my g/f's BB can't use certain features via WiFi, and I worry that it will be the same for the playbook.
2) I've not been too impressed with BBOS UI in the past, which is slightly worrying when considering the playbook. Of course, RIM did acquire TAT, which are masters at crafting creative UIs.

I'm somewhat skeptical, but must wait to hear reviews. At least one developer has mentioned that developing for the playbook was a nightmare, which if true, may hurt application support!

Other than that, it looks like it could be a solid tablet!

iPad sucks, at least for geeks like me... You can't do anything with it!

The new Apple ad campaign has been released!


http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/03/app...hone-campaign/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onLYKU-CNhM
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDJxSCEXV_I
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmz0YG2ZP0I

The ads are a bit misleading in that they make the iPhone seems as though it's the only handset to have access to books or music. It certainly seems like they are hammering the competition quite hard, and trying to differentiate the platform.

EDIT: I'm not the only one that thinks this campaign is more than a bit misleading.
http://www.androidcentral.com/has-ap...eting-campaign

Sasha at netbooknews.com has some less than nice things to say about the innovative Apple iPad cover (the plastic one):

http://www.netbooknews.com/22124/app...on-not-at-all/
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcOPhzG5sRM

Perhaps the leather one works better? A great idea, but the implementation could have been better.

Here are some AMAZING looking games optimized for the iPad 2:
REAL RACING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iYOz2H0UM
DEAD SPACE 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHQjhiGEqy0

Wow. Real racing looks like it features HDR lighting (shader heavy), and great geometry. For an entry level app, this is quite amazing. As developers start learning more about the system, expect graphics far beyond this.

Dead space looks simply stunning, with amazing lighting.

It looks as if the iPad will be unmatched in the tablet world for games for another year, realistically.