Here’s good news for anyone looking to purchase an iPad for the holiday season. Apple has officially dropped the pricing on refurbished iPad tablets, as seen on the online Apple Store. The move comes as more and more iPad tablets come back into Apple’s possession (whether they were previously returned, damaged, and so forth) and the company is trying to get rid of them quickly before Christmas. There’s always the thought in the back of the consumer’s head that makes them worry as to whether or not their refurb will be defective, but the good news is that we’re dealing with Apple — a company with incredibly high standards. Really, the only difference is that

KOREAN electronics giant Samsung said recently that it would launch its iPad wannabe, the Tab, on all four major US cellphone carriers, boosting the device’s chances of success in the key US market. So far, Apple’s iPad tablet computer has had the market virtually to itself since its launch in late April, selling some three million units in 80 days. Samsung’s Tab runs on Google’s rival operating system Android, and is the first device that analysts say presents credible opposition to the iPad, which proved there was a market for the intuitive touch- screen interfaces that small tablet computers allow. Samsung did not announce pricing details for the device, which with an 18

Apple could sell 28 million iPads in 2011, perhaps affecting sales of lower end PCs, according to a new research note from UBS Investment Research. “Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets,” UBS Investment Research analyst Maynard Um wrote in that note, excerpted on the blog Apple Insider. “We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.” In addition, Um reportedly suggested that “consumers who purc

Twitter has just announced the service’s official iPad app. It’s free and comes with a slew of touch interface bells and whistles built right in. The app is intended to allow for seamless navigation between tweets, photos, web pages, videos and other media and updates. It’s also usable even for those who don’t have Twitter  accounts. Twitter for iPad [iTunes link] has a few new UI touches that you haven’t seen elsewhere. These features are custom-designed for the larger screen and touch capabilities of the iPad. It also caters to what the iPad was made for: media consumption rather than creation. Twitter’s Leland Rechis, a mobile UX designer, writes on the Twitter blog

Apple will broadcast its highly anticipated media event today in a live video stream, but in a decision sure to divide consumers, only owners of the latest Apple kit will be able to watch it. Commentators expect Apple CEO Steve Jobs to unveil a refreshed iPod family plus confirm whether iTunes is headed online as well as lifting the lid on TV show streaming rumours. However, not everyone will be able to watch the event live as Apple has made a divisive move to broadcast its conference using HTTP Live Streaming, which only runs on the latest Apple products, perhaps risking alienating would-be Apple customers. Viewers will need a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leop