“What is it in France they say? ‘America contributed three things to culture: jazz, musical comedy and comic books.’” You can already buy two on iTunes. And if things pan out, you’ll be get the third on the Apple tablet.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been talking to people within the comics industry to try to sniff out Apple’s plans, including Neal Adams, developer of an upcoming motion Astonishing X-Men comic on iTunes, who also told me the French saying. Everyone in Adams’ line of work is buzzing about the tablet and what it can do for their masterpieces.

It’s an easy presumption for comic book fans. The Sun Times’ Andy Inhatko is betting that LongBox, a digital distribution platform for comic books, will make an appearance on Apple’s upcoming tablet. More than just an appearance, really:

I’m pretty sure that Apple is entering into a formal alliance with LongBox. When I asked [LongBox CEO Rantz] Hoseley about what kind of partnerships the company is forming, he spoke vaguely of what was taking up most of his time at the moment: a lengthy and complicated agreement with a seriously large company operating in the media space.

One problem: Several sources I spoke to over the last couple of weeks, including top-level executives at giants like Marvel and DC, have said they’ve not heard a whisper from Apple—despite a nearly desperate hope that Apple would come a-courtin’. One executive said to me, when I mentioned the possibility of putting his comic books on the Apple tablet, “If you’ve heard anything from Apple, please tell them I’m ready to do it.”

That means that LongBox may be the only distribution option for comic books at the tablet’s launch, through some sort of dedicated LongBox app. And if LongBox’s distribution plan for the Apple tablet is just an app, why would they need to do any negotiations with Apple? Launch the LongBox app, sell the content, and go. No Apple nod necessary.

We know that Apple has been reaching out to select publishers. It was Andy Inhatko who passed on the rumor about “trucks loaded with books” earlier this year. It all fits with the moves we already know Apple is making in its outreach to magazine and newspaper publishers. For Apple, the tablet is about cleaning up; with the addition of books, newspaper, magazines and comic books, there isn’t a single vector of mass media that Apple won’t be able to distribute through iTunes. With the success of the App Store—a success I think even Apple wasn’t expecting to such a degree — they’re even a major distributor of software and games.

Oh right, there’s also music and video.

Marvel content, especially, seems like a given. Disney bought Pixar, putting Steve Jobs on the Disney board. Then Disney buys Marvel. Marvel has already dabbled in publishing content through iTunes, with a new “motion comic” version of The Astonishing X-Men hitting iTunes on October 28th.

I spoke to Inhatko on my tiny Apple tablet last week about his story. He’s increasingly persuaded that Apple is content to let print publishers distribute their content through apps, not through the iTunes store itself.

He may very well be right, at least at the tablet’s launch, especially given Apple’s reticence to even acknowledge the tablet’s existence, let alone provide publishers with detailed, unified specifications for an “iRead” format. But it also strikes me as an inelegant solution at best, especially considering iTunes 9’s iTunes LP format is an HTML- and JavaScript-based 720p format that would work just wonderfully for a digital magazine and comics format.

Could just be wishful thinking on my part—I’d rather manage subscriptions through iTunes like podcasts, rather than individual apps—but either way it’s a win for Apple, who will happily get their cut no matter what system of digital print distribution ultimately takes off. If you have any leads on comic book tablet activity, by all means, send us a tip.

There is one shocker I discovered in my discussions with Marvel folk: It’s been confirmed to me that Hulk is stronger than Thor. Chew on that one for a while — at least until you can buy Hulk vs. Thor on iTunes. Excelsior!

*This article is written by Joel Johnson.

Apple once again is challenged in the smartphone arena

While the Blackberry is currently the bestselling smartphone, thanks largely to a strong core of business users, sales numbers indicate the iPhone dominates the multimedia entertainment phone market. Verizon’s Droid phone, which launched on Friday, may change that as it looks to be solid competitor to the iPhone in many ways.

Droid ships with a 16 GB microSD card, but is expandable up to 32 GB, allowing it to match the highest-capacity iPhone 3GS (which does not have expandable memory). The phone is ever-so-slightly thicker than the iPhone, at 13.7 mm (vs. 12 mm for the iPhone 3GS). It also packs a slide-out physical keyboard, which some customers prefer.

Droid also has a better camera (5.0 megapixels vs. 3.0 megapixels on the iPhone), a dual LED flash (the iPhone has no camera flash), and a nicer screen. The Droid’s screen bests the iPhone’s both in pixel density and size (3.7″ and 265 ppi for Droid, 3.5″ and 185 ppi for the iPhone). It also bests the iPhone in battery capacity (1400 mAh v. 1219 mAh), though the actually operating battery life has not been extensively benchmarked versus the iPhone. Like the iPhone, Droid features multi-touch technology, something Apple claims to hold a copyright on and reportedly strong-armed Google out of with the original Android operating system. And like the Palm Pre, true multitasking is supported.

Other advantages include its support of Adobe Flash (allowing full-fledged internet browsing), a technology that Apple has rejected. It also compares favorably with the iPhone on price, coming in at $200 after $100 mail-in rebate with a new contract, versus $199 (with plan) for a 16 GB iPhone 3GS, or $299 for a 32 GB iPhone 3GS.

Along with the launch of the new phone on Friday came official details on its tethering plan. Like the Blackberry Storm 2 and several other Verizon handsets, Droid phones indeed have an option to serve as a mobile internet connection for your PC and laptop at home or on the go.

One of the long standing complaints about the iPhone is that AT&T still doesn’t offer tethering services with it in the U.S. While tethering may soon be in sight, as it is supported by the current version of OS X software on the iPhone, many wonder how much longer they will have to wait. Some of these users are now eying Droid, as tethering is now officially available for it.

The phone’s tethering costs are similar to Verizon’s other 3G phone tethering offers, reportedly. For any user with a qualifying handset, they pay a maximum of $50 per month for 5GB of data transfer. Most users have access to a $30 per month rate, if they have the Unlimited Wireless Email, Email and Web for Smartphone Feature or Plan, Nationwide Premium Plan and others — which nearly all Verizon’s smart phone customers opt for.

Customers with Verizon’s $79.99 per month PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email plan get a nice perk — the ability to pick up tethering for only $15 per month. Customers jumping on tethering should be careful, though, overages (after the first 5120 MB) run at 5 cents per MB, or $51.20 per GB.

The tethering option at $30 per month, while not overly cheap (it doubles Droid’s $30 data fee), does stack up nicely compared to Verizon’s wireless broadband cards, which also use the telecom’s 3G network. These cards, available in USB and PC Card forms (typically free or at minimal cost after rebate) are offered with plans of 250MB of data for $40 a month (10 cents per MB overages) or 5 GB for $60 per month (5 cents per MB overages). The only other apparent downside of choosing tethering on Droid or Verizon’s other phones is that it may prove a significant drain your phone battery when in use.

While there are many upsides to Verizon customers when it comes to the Droid phone, one downside is its app marketplace. There reportedly are a bit over 10,000 apps in the Droid marketplace, while Apple’s marketplace just surpassed 100,000. As mentioned, the iPhone also manages a close win in thickness and additionally the iPhone 3GS processor, an 800 MHz Arm processor underclocked to 600 MHz, slightly bests Droid’s processor, which is a 550 MHz Arm processor. However, with Droid trumping the iPhone 3GS in many other areas, Apple is reportedly a bit spooked. According to Boy Genius Report, the Cupertino giant is considering a $99 8 GB iPhone 3GS in time for the holiday season.

*This article is written by Jason Mick.

The first set of road trip gadgets are those that help you get there efficiently. If you’re used to online or paper maps telling you the way to your destination, try out a GPS. That stands for Global Positioning System, and it’s like having your own personal navigator. A radar detector will help you get there quickly while keeping a watchful ear open for police radar action. And finally we have the Blinder M20 Laser Jammer, which scrambles the radar detector results.

Entertainment on the road is almost as important as getting there. These road trip gadgets help you be entertained on your way. First, let’s look at music. Long gone are the days of desktop computers holding all your music. Just hook up your iPod or mp3 player to an FM transmitter and you’ve got music for the road! You can also have one or more DVD players in the car or on the back of the headrests for the entertainment of those not driving. Take a camera for taking some great roadside pictures. DirecTV is also available by using a dish that is mounted on the top of your vehicle to bring in 185 channels of TV goodness.

There are some really interesting road trip gadgets intended to make your life easier while you are on the road. If you want internet while roaming the roadways, Autonet Mobile is a great way to turn your car into a Wi-Fi hotspot. This service runs about $50 per month. There’s a great tool called CarMD which plugs into your car’s computer to find out why your indicator light has turned on. This is much better than trying to find a reliable mechanic and pay him or her for the service. You only need to upload the results into CarMD.com to find out what’s wrong. A power inverter is also helpful because that way you can power all these exciting toys in the vehicle.

Using these handy and fun road trip gadgets will make your next road trip easier, smarter, more fun, more connected, and more manageable. The options in entertainment of music, movies, and TV available leave no form of media unturned. The GPS alone is enough handiness to make a road trip easier than ever imagined possible before. You can drive way off course and the GPS can still help you get back on track quickly. Radar detectors and Laser Jammers can help you prevent trouble with the law if you’re a little heavy in the driving foot. With all these gadgets, the only thing left to do is drive safely, and enjoy the ride.

SSD stands for Solid State Drive, and HDD for Hard Disk Drive. These two tech toys have been battling it out lately to determine which is the stronger, better and faster model. Many people simply want to know if the extra cost is worth it for the SSD, while some wonder what performance it offers in comparison to a typical HDD drive. If you’re not a computer geek, don’t worry. There is plenty of explanation so that you can understand both of these drives, as well as their functions.

When a computer operates, it needs to have a memory that programs are loaded into. That way, when you want to use them, you’ll be able to access them quickly and easily. Storage devices provide that memory for computers, allowing you to keep all of your favorite programs close at hand. A hard disk drive, or HDD has physical platens, which are simply plates of magnetic material that spin. When the head or lens moves over the plates, it reads the contents, much like a CD ROM or DVD drive would. Then, it accesses the programs that you want based on the information that it reads. An SSD does not work like this. It has a set of chips and a driver program just like the HDD, but it operates completely differently. The HDD spins like a CD ROM drive, which takes a little bit of time that the SSD doesn’t require.

Hard Disk Drives are divided into tracks and sectors. This is where the information is stored from your computer. With an SSD, or Solid State Drive, you don’t have any tracks, sectors, or physical ’spinning’ that has to take place. You are simply able to cluster the files electronically rather than physically storing them on an actual drive. It takes much less time to operate an SSD, and it can easily save, change, and remove data unlike a hard drive which takes a lot of time to work in most cases. Ultimately, the main difference when it comes to the SSD vs. Larger-capacity 2.5″ HDD is that there are no moving parts in the SSD, at all. It operates completely electronically.

SSD will read faster, but write a bit slower. They also come in smaller sizes, which is bad for someone who wants a large drive. SSDs are more expensive than HDDs as well. Ultimately, the choice is yours to make in the end. SSD vs. larger capacity 2.5″ HDD? Only you can decide.