You no longer need an iPad to purchase and read some of your favorite magazines on a tablet. On Wednesday Next Issue Media — an independent media venture founded by Conde Nast, Hearst Corporation, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc. — released an early build of its new Android publishing platform. It’s home to popular titles such as Esquire, Popular Mechanics, Parents, New Yorker, Fortune, and Time. The applications for each magazine are only available on Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab on Verizon Wireless for now, and you’ll need to download them from Verizon’s own VCast application store, AllThingsD said. An issue of Esquire costs $4.99, although it can be purchased for $1.99 per month, too. Next Issue Media’s CEO, Morgan Guenther, said that publishers will receive “at least”  70% of each transaction, and that the company plans to offer at least 40 different magazine titles by the end of 2011. A webOS version is in the works, for HP’s upcoming TouchPad tablet, and we hope the firm has an Android 3.0 Honeycomb build in development, too.

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Included in Apple’s “Q&A on Location Data” press release this morning was a rare and concrete statement that pointed to a future project the company is working on. “Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years,” reads the release. Currently, iOS offers its users traffic-data through the bundled Google Maps application. It is unclear whether Apple is collecting this information to supplement the aforementioned offering, or — as rumors suggest — to build a new application that is less reliant on Google. Either way, it is an unusual statement from the Cupertino-based company about a future service.

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Apple, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless have independently fired off press releases letting us know exactly how and when we can acquire yourself an iPad 2 tomorrow, March 11th. Starting at 5:00 p.m. local time, interested parties can head to an Apple, AT&T, or Verizon Wireless retail store to purchase the 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB tablet in white or black. Verizon will be offering four data plans for the iPad 2:

• 1GB per month – $20
• 3GB per month – $35
• 5GB per month – $50
• 10GB per month – $80

While AT&T will be offering just two in both the pre-paid and post-paid formats:

• Monthly statements:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2GB.  Customers who exceed their monthly data allotment will be billed $14.99 for another 250MB on the $14.99 plan or $10 per 1 GB of overage on the 2 GB plan [AT&T is offering consumers who choose monthly statement billing one free month of service].
• Credit card billing:  $14.99 for 250 MB or $25 for 2 GB.  Customers who exceed their monthly data allotment may choose to purchase another 250 MB on the $14.99 plan or purchase an additional 2 GB for $25 on the 2 GB plan.

All models of the iPad 2 — Wi-Fi and 3G — will also be available at Apple retail stores and select Walmart, Best Buy, Sam’s Club and Target stores nationwide starting at 5:00 p.m. AT&T and Verizon stores will only carry GSM and CDMA iPads respectively. If you’re not inclined to hit up a retail outlet, but are still interested in the tablet, AT&T and Apple will begin selling the iPad 2 online at 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time (4:00 a.m. Eastern) on the 11th. There you have it, if you’re jones’ing to get yourself an iPad 2, start formulating your game plan.

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One of our sources has just let us know something pretty interesting. There has been a lot of talk surrounding Apple’s personal hotspot feature, specifically it’s capability of only supporting 3 wireless connections (as opposed to 5 like many other devices). Well, we have been told it’s all left to the carrier to decide. If a carrier requests it, five devices will be supported, but by default, it’s three.

Oh, and we’ve also been told iOS 4.3 will be available for download publicly at 10AM PT today. Fire up iTunes and get your update trigger-finger ready!

Oh Google Maps, is there anything you can’t do? Via a blog post just moments ago, Google announced an incremental update to its Maps application for Android. The update, which is still technically in beta, brings real-time traffic routing right to your smartphone. “You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps,” reads the announcement. “Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account.” The software will work in both North America and Europe, and is waiting for you in the Android Market. Enjoy.

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What’s this? An invite to a January 11th press event from Verizon Wireless? We’ve confirmed that the above invitation has been sent to multiple new and traditional media outlets. While we have no way of knowing exactly what Verizon has in store, you know what we think it is *cough, Verizon iPhone, cough*. We reported that the Verizon iPhone announcement was imminent earlier this morning, and, if industry pundits and analysts are correct, we were spot on. What do you think? Is Tuesday, January 11th the day when all the speculation can end? Or is this just an oddly — and cruelly – timed press event on 1/11/11 at 11:00AM ET?

Back in November, a leaked email from Apple to record label representatives indicated that 90 second song previews were in the works for the iTunes Music Store. Today, without much fanfare, the Cupertino company has begun to roll out the extended song previews to its digital music store. The site’s current top albums all have received the upgrade treatment, although, most songs still have the original 30 second previews. Apple has yet to issue a press release formally announcing the feature.

According to recent survey, New Yorkers literally don’t have time to talk on their cell phones. In terms of rank, New York is #15 in the nation for total number of calls, yet almost dead last in terms of actual call durations. If you’re from New York, you’re probably shaking your head in agreement as we’re most likely to take a call while doing seven hundred other things; say what we have to say, and jump off. What state would you guess holds the title for most prolific cellphone users? That would be Georgia. Because everyone is friendly in Georgia. Some more quick data from the study: teens send almost 3,000 text messages a month, and women talk on the phone 22% more than men. Though I doubt anyone is surprised by those last figures…

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Nielson has released the findings of a study which claims that in June of 2010 almost 33% of all U.S. internet time was spent on either social networking or gaming. The study writes: “Despite the almost unlimited nature of what you can do on the web, 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on just three activities – social networking, playing games and emailing leaving a whole lot of other sectors fighting for a declining share of the online pie.” According to the study Americans spend 22.7% of their time on social networks, 10.2% of their time playing online games, and 8.3% of their time emailing. Watching videos and listening to music (online mind you) came in at 3.9%. When segmenting out mobile, the top three activities were email, portals, and social networking/blogs respectively. Do your online habits fit the findings of this study?

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The upset of the year is not happening on the ice or the gridirons, instead it is happening over at Time’s website. Believe it or not but a poll over at Time.com has the Peek Email device leading the list as the top gadget of 2008.  Not the sleek Flip Mino portable video camcorder, the iPod Touch, the MacBook, or the many other fantastic products that are among Time’s options, it is the Peek that is the fave amongst the Time respondents. You remember the Peek. It is that email only device that runs on T-Mobile’s EDGE network and provides unlimited email access for $20 per month. It is not just slightly ahead of the competition either. It is mopping the floor with them, garnering almost as many votes as the iPod Touch and the MacBook combined.  We’re going to reserve comment on this one and turn it over to you readers. What do think? Is the Peek really the gadget of the year or this a case of some wild online ballot stuffing? Chime in and let us know if the Peek’s rightful place is atop Time’s list, or if Time readers are crazy and the Peek belongs somewhere back around 1998.

[Thanks, Horatio!]

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Remember back when being a part of mainstream media meant something? Respect, dignity, hard work, research, fact checking, deadlines and so on. Ahh those were the days, but my how times have changed; especially when it comes to the cell phone industry. They just don’t get it. Kind of makes you wonder what else they’re missing, no? Anyway, we’re now quite pleased to present to you the iPhone G3. Mmm. Found within a TIME Magazine photo essay entitled The Long Odyssey of the Cell Phone, the iPhone G3 is apparently a very important part of mobile history. Quite a retrospective. We’re also very impressed with the fact that TIME recognizes the long and storied journey that mobile technology has taken – so much so that it has been captured in a total of 14 slides. Good show fellas, top drawer.

[Via TumblOlly]

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