Financial firm Goldman Sachs has said today that Apple's second-generation iPad tablet will include a camera and a mini-USB port.

The device will also be lighter than the current iteration.

Apple may also be planning a smaller device, most likely at 7-inches.

If accurate, the device will fall in line with other new tablets, such as the RIM PlayBook and Samsung's Tab, both of which have cameras, USB ports and 7-inch diagonal screens.

Goldman's analysts also say Apple should have no problem fending off new tablets but next summer the real "battle" will begin, when tablets with Android 3.0 are hitting the market.

The new iPad should be released in the Spring of 2011, likely around the one-year anniversary of the launch of the original.

Permalink | Comments

---

Thanks to the iPhone Dev Team, consumers will soon be able to jailbreak and install apps on their new AppleTVs.

Using a tool dubbed Shatter, users can unlock the Apple TV firmware.

Shatter has already been used to jailbreak the iPod Touch 4 and AppleTV uses the same operating system.

Wired says "the hack was carried out on the firmware restore download that has just been posted by Apple. This file, which contains the entire OS of the Apple TV, is an IPSW file, the file-extension for iPhone and iPad OS files."

Existing AppleTV hacks may work on the updated devices, and new apps like Hulu on the iPad may be able to work, as well.

Apparently, all the binaries of the new AppleTV are marked iPad-compatible.

Permalink | Comments

---

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has confirmed today they have acquired the very popular technology blog TechCrunch.

TechCrunch was founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington.

GigaOM, a rival tech blog, first broke the news yesterday that a deal was in the works.

At TechCrunch's Disrupt conference, Arrington and Armstrong signed the actual contract on stage, in front of a full audience.

AOL's only condition is that Arrington stay as part of the site until 2013, at least.

The reported price for the acquisition is $25 million, even though the site reportedly brings in $10 million per year.

Permalink | Comments

---

Last week we reported that the group "Anonymous" had taken down multiple websites relating to anti-piracy firms, starting with the MPAA and AiPlex Software and then taking down the RIAA.

Dubbed "Operation Payback," the protest revolves around DDoS attacks on the firm's main sites.

Following on from the other DDoS attacks, another wave has hit anti-piracy sites, this time taking down AFACT, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.

AFACT adds that a large number of sites hosted by their host (Negregistry), have been attacked as well.

8000 sites to be exact. "A lot of these sites are small Australian businesses and Government web sites," says Negregistry. "They have been affected by this senseless act."

With that, Operation Payback continues.

Permalink | Comments

---

Microsoft has announced it will hold a press conference in Europe on October 11th and it is expected that the company will officially announced the first Windows Phone 7 devices.

The press event will be held in London and will offer a "hands-on opportunities with WP7 devices."

Dates have been conflicting since Microsoft has yet to give an official launch date for the devices, with many sites claiming October 21st while others claim November 8th.

There is a chance that all the numbers will be correct in some way, with the company showing off the phones on the 11th, announcing pricing on the 21st, and having phones hit stores the next month on the 8th.

Microsoft recently said tethering, along with copy/paste and full multitasking have all been stripped from the 1.0 software release, but will make comebacks in future firmware updates.

Permalink | Comments

---