After much anticipation and speculation, Apple Inc. today finally unveiled its tablet computer, the Apple iPad (see more pictures). Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the device at an invite-only press event in San Francisco.

The iPad is only a half of an inch thick and weighs just 1.5-lbs. It is powered by a 1GHz Apple A4 processor and will come in three flavors: 16, 32, or 64GB sizes. The 16GB version will retail for $499, the 32GB for $599, and the 64GB version for $699. The 3G version will cost an additional $130 per model.

Other features include an accelerometer, WiFi, Bluetooth, among other features. It operates on the same operating system as the iPhone and does run applications from the app store.

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Apple recently decided not to approve Google’s Voice application, citing the application altered the main functions of the iPhone.

Today, Google has released an enhanced mobile version of Voice at http://m.google.com/voice, which is powered by HTML5 that now brings new premium features to the iPhone.

Most people who use Google Voice want to use it to consolidate all their telephone numbers into one primary one. One of the best features is now the ability to set your outgoing calling number to your Google Voice number on your iPhone. It will now be easier for your friends to adopt your Google Voice number, as they’ll always see your Google Voice number. You can also send and receive free text messages from Google Voice.

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New Apple U.S. patent applications suggest the Cupertino-based company is developing software and hardware to regulate electricity to devices around your home to help you better manage and lower your monthly hydro bill.

The Intelligent Power Monitoring patent would allow you to allocate electricity to connected devices on your computer such as printers, your iPhone, BlackBerry, and other mobile devices and peripherals that charge. According to the patent application, users would also be able to schedule power-charging times and automatically set the more energy-intensive devices to hibernate to conserve energy. The energy allocation would be handled by the Intelligent Power Communications Port (patent no. 20100007473).

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Apple is expected to unveil its very highly anticipated tablet computer at a press event believed to be either on Jan 26 or Jan 27.

It is rumored that Apple will unveil the device to the world at that press event, and is expected to launch the product by the end of Q1 2010.

New reports that have emerged now suggest the launch date will be sometime in Q2.

Asian suppliers that are familiar with the product, such as AVY Precesiion Tech (who is providing the structural casing parts of the device) say they plan to start production of the parts in February to meet a second quarter launch time-line.

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Google recently released its Chrome browser for Mac OS X, but until now, users could not enjoy add-ons and extensions because they were not supported.

The latest development build (caution: this release might not be stable) of Chrome for Mac now includes support for Chrome extensions. Extensions are small and free apps that are made by third-party developers that add or enhance existing browser functionality. Extensions support was already available for the Windows version of Chrome. Other Mac browsers such as both Safari and Firefox already have a large list of available extensions.

There are few more enhancements in the latest build such as the ability to display your opened tabs only with their respective favicons only.

According to the latest data, Google Chrome is now the third most popular web browser, edging out Apple’s Safari browser. From CBC, the data indicates Microsoft’s Internet Explorer holds 63-percent market share, with Firefox second with only about 25-percent, followed by Google’s Chrome browser with a small yet significant 4.5-percent.

We’ve seen a lot of things happen in 2009, some things were expected, some were not, some were shocking, and some were simply never seen or heard of before.

From the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history, to the global financial credit crisis, to historic health care reform championed by the first black President of the United States.

A lot has happened in 2009, and we’ve compiled it all up for you with the top 8 topics of the entire year.

1. The Global Financial Crisis

With the near collapse of the global credit market, and unprecedented actions being taken by global leaders to stave off a global economic meltdown, the financial crisis was plastered in the media almost every day and even became a primary presidential voting issue, thereby making it the story of 2009. With billions provided in emergency bailout loans to financial intermediaries, Wall Street was still paying millions in bonuses with outstanding government loans, while millions of Americans faced forclosurer and high unemployment rates. The Obama administration later moved to block $165-million in AIG bonuses alone and later blocked bonuses from being paid while the financial intermediaries had outstanding government debt. Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway even reported its biggest loss ever (only its second loss in its history). There were also opportunities for firms to act on, such as Disney who acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4B. Despite households losing significant amounts of money primairly from their positions in risky equity positions, some did profit (though not for too long)…Bearnie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison following a conviction for operating the biggest Ponzi scheme ever seen in U.S. history that saw $50 billion defrauded from investors.

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A concept of what an Apple Tablet computer could look like

According to a report published today by the Financial Times that only cited “people familiar with the discussions”, Apple should officially unveil its much-anticipated Tablet computer as early as February 2010.

Apple has explicitly denied it is working on such a device.

The device will very likely support the iPhone apps from the App Store, and will likely be a cross of OS X and the iPhone OS. It is very unlikely the tablet would include OS X found on regular Mac machines.

The Financial Times report also says Apple is preparing to launch a paid online television subscription service sometime in 2010. According to reports, Apple is approaching publishers such as Time, Disney, and CBS to offer content through iTunes.

We’ve compiled a list of over 30 of some of the best Apple inspired free icon sets (including free for commercial use) that are currently available. We’ll keep this simple, just click on the preview to go to the official icon set page, or where available, simply click the Download link found below the previews for quicker download.

You’ll also find other wonderful icon sets at some of the links, so be sure to look around. If we’ve missed an icon set that you think should be included, just drop a comment and we might just add it. Remember to let us know what you think and which ones ones you like best. Enjoy!

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After recently updating its iMac and MacBook Pro models, Apple has now begun shipping quad-core 27-inch iMacs, with the new i5 and i7 quad-core Intel processors with 8MB level 3 cache.

Apple first unveiled the new products last month, but only now have they started to ship from Shanghai were they are made.

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Canadian CDMA carriers Telus and Bell are set to launch the iPhone 3G S on Nov 5, and Nov 4, respectively. The companies have now announced pricing for the devices.

Telus will offer the 16GB (black/white) version for $199, the 32GB version will cost CND $299 and will be available in both black and white.

Both companies are not introducing exclusive monthly plans for the iPhone. Plans start at $50 per month at Telus, and at $55 per month at Bell.

At Telus, the most affordable plan will set you back $50 per month, and will give you 150 minutes with 500MB of data (with tethering included). All plans include unlimited messaging as well.

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