The SIM card tray you see pictured up top is supposedly designed for the Apple Tablet, and is built by Foxconn (the device's rumored manufacturer). It's definitely larger than the current iPhone SIM tray, but it could probably also be used anywhere. Either way, it goes on sale October 23 for $14.05.

[Edited to remove reference to the Bill Keller NYtimes Quote because a) we already know the tablet is coming, b) he was speaking hypothetically. And if not, well, we already know it's coming.—Blam] [Gawker and China On Trade via Engadget]

Here's the money quote: "Judged by the standards of a personal computer or electronics, that's odd: Imagine buying a Dell that worked only with Comcast Internet access or a VCR that worked only with NBC."

The obvious (and dreamy and impractical) solution is that Apple should've let it roam free, like a posthuman Jesus, from network to network, carrier to carrier, on "permanent roam." Right now, you can't even use Wi-Fi to make calls (a la T-Mobile). All in all, the iPhone isn't really revolutionary—it pretty much "plays by the rules."

Slate's second hater, Jack Shafer, can have his criticism of the iPhone-loving media summed up thusly: "So, who is craziest? The doofuses in line, the panting authors of the iPhone news stories or the recent purchasers of Apple stock?"

Well, who do you think? And how just rule-abiding is the iPhone in the regulation-choked wireless industry?

iPhony: Why Apple's new cell phone isn't really revolutionary [Slate]
iPhone Suck-Up Watch [Slate]

Hedging his statement, he says:

But a listener's ability to distinguish sound quality depends on many factors, like age, hearing ability, and attentiveness, not to mention the style of music and where one listens to it. For example, music with delicate timbres—a string quartet, say—might sound noticeably choppy at lower bitrates, whereas compressing an AC/DC song might not be so bad.

Are iTunes' Premium Downloads Worth It? [Slate]

The clock's Chinese Korean creators decided this was a "moving clock for your goal," giving you a slot to place whatever motivational phrase you desire. Many phrases are already included, but unfortunately they won't mean much to English speakers.

Build one like this, and we'll buy it:

This replica of a clapboard is more nostalgic than realistic. In the old days, they used to actually write on the clapboard with chalk, showing date, scene/shot number, director, and other information pertinent to the production. The actual clapboard was audibly "clapped" against the bottom part of the thing while it was being filmed at the beginning of every shot, so the film and separately-recorded audio track could be accurately synchronized.

Of course, gadgetry has taken the place of those old-style clapboards. Modern-day clapboards are much more useful, using digital technology. Those of us who are familiar with motion picture and video production clapboards (also called slates, pictured at right) know that this alarm clock would be much more realistic if its designers would have used red LEDs. In a real digital slate, the red LEDs show running time code or film edge numbers. Build one that looks just like the digital slates we use in production these days, and substitute time and alarm numbers instead of time code numbers, and we'll be first in line to buy one.

By the way, why is there a move away from red LEDs for alarm clocks? We find them less intrusive to the darkness and easier to read than blue LEDs, and much better overall than LCDs that require you to push a button to illuminate their backlights. – Charlie White

Movie clock [blog.pcnews.ro]

Chris calls this as close to the holy grail of gaming as any console currently gets, simulating a virtual-reality machine at home. His wife, who seems to be a big complainer, enjoyed beating the Wii out of him in Wii Boxing. My own entrapped female (as did just about every reviewer's) felt the same way, dominating me in boxing until I cried for mercy—and a change of games.

Suellentrop continues...

...and concludes that Wii Sports is decent (not great) and gives people just a taste of what an actual sports game can do with refined Wii remote controls. The other two games, Excite Truck and Zelda gave him a mixed bag. He didn't like Excite Truck that much—neither did we—but he did say Zelda was too long for him to review yet. He complained about its lack of voice acting and dated graphics, which honestly didn't get in the way of gameplay at all for me.

In the end, Chris seems, like us, to be more enamored with the idea of what the Wii can eventually do rather than the games that are out now. Wii Sports is too shallow for more than a few hours of gaming during parties, and Excite Truck's control scheme is a bit awkward. Zelda is the only "must have" game on the Wii so far, and having already finished it, I can say that it's well worth the price of Wii admission to experience. – Jason Chen

Wii Is the Champion [Slate]

Essentially, the writer, Erik Sofage (a self-described "hardcore gamer" who's written on subjects like the Zune and next-gen video games in general), says that the Wiimote is too counter-intuitive for its own good. He brings up several instances where he felt the controller didn't quite deliver the immersive experience that Nintendo had promised. He complained that in "a sci-fi title" (read: Metroid), he ended up shooting wildly off target and that aiming the gun was a chore in and of itself. In Zelda, Sofage says that the fishing mini game was akin to "T-ball for gamers." He must be a baseball fan because then he assails the Wii for not accurately replicating a major league swing in playing Wii Sports. And hitting a button to swing is any more realistic?

By the sounds of it, unless we're horribly mistaken, Sofage based his opinion on only brief play-throughs, hardly enough time to get an accurate "feel" for the Wii.

If you want to knock the Wii for anything, might we suggest that, yes, the graphics are fairly simple for a "next-gen" system, keeping in mind that we recognize that graphics alone don't make for an enjoyable gaming experience. You also might want to consider that, ever since the Nintendo 64, Nintendo consoles have had pretty poor third-party support after launch. Whether or not that happens with Wii remains to be seen. – Nicholas Deleon

Thanks, Vince!

Why you shouldn't buy the Nintendo Wii [Slate]

How To Download a DVD[Slate]