Things that made it worth waking up this morning:

- Apple's long-rumoured tablet computer, a device destined to save humanity from imminent collapse, will be launched at the end of January and available in stores in March, according to this Wall Street Journal report. It will come with a 10-11 inch screen, which makes it closer to a small laptop than a giant iPhone, the story says, citing people briefed on the matter. A $1000 price point is floated, which also puts it pretty much in the laptop space - but cheaper than the Dh12,000 steel apple, seen to the left, on sale at Dubai's Burlesque Boutique. Oh, and Engadget have a great review of the new Google Nexus One phone.

- Also in the WSJ, an interesting interview with Sameer Nath, the head of Citigroup's mergers and acquitions business in India. He says the country's telecom sector is ripe for serious consolidation, with dozens of national and regional operators. Etisalat, trying to grow a network from scratch and sitting on billions of dollars of cash and a sovereign-quality credit rating, should be a major player in consolidation there in the coming years.

- Booz & Co have put out a new report on the future of tech-empowered marketing campaigns. "Consider a situation where, during a business trip, with a dead battery, a phone charger left at home and a big client calling in two hours, you visit your mobile operator's nearest retail outlet to buy a new charger. Expecting to finish this quickly, you emerge 20 minutes later with a complete travel kit, including a spare charger, a battery, and a three-month trial subscription to the mobile company's basic e-mail and Internet service package." Nightmare? Utopian future of our dreams? We report, you decide, click here to download a brief of the report.

(Photo by Amy Leang / The National)