Apple’s Ping debuted on Wednesday with the release of iTunes 10. The social network for music looked pretty impressive during Apple’s Special Event and sent record numbers to the unrelated ping.fm. In practice though, Ping’s had a rough start.

Initially Ping allowed users to use Facebook Connect to find friends that were also using the service, but as of Thursday morning the Facebook connect option was gone. AllthingsD reported that Facebook turned off Apple’s access to the friend finding features in the API due to the high volume of requests. Normally special permission to access this feature is not required, but the load that 160 million iTunes users can put API requires a special deal and preparation.

Now reports are coming out, just the second morning after launch, that the service is already crammed full of spammers. I decided to check out these claims myself, clicked into U2’s profile page and expanded one comment thread:

Four out of the eight visible posts are spam. Michael is very persistant … even after Christine and Juan recommended he go to hell. There seems to be a complete lack of a spam filter at this point. At least there are lots of opportunities to get a free iPhone (Don’t actually try to get a free iPhone this way, it won’t work).

We will see if Apple can get this all ironed out. How are you using Ping? Are you using Ping? What can we expect to hear tomorrow?

When Steve Jobs first mentioned the updated Apple TV at yesterday’s “special event,” it sent excited murmurs across the industry. Would this be the true TV 2.0 experience that consumers are asking for? It could have sent shock waves to knock Google TV, and Roku, and Boxee, and Xbox 360 on their heels. But it didn’t.

With everything good about the new device, there is something bad. So it’s good that it is smaller at a mere quarter of the size it was before. But this size reduction – a reduction that few people will care about, really – came at the cost of a hard drive, which means that you can’t store content on the device. Sure, everything will be available in HD, which makes sense, but “HD” on Apple TV is 720p, where “HD” on Xbox 360 offers instant-on 1080p. And although Apple introduced $.99 TV show rentals, they announced that there would be no purchasing content on the Apple TV, only renting, an option that is entirely un-American.

But there were two real opportunities lost. The first was not bringing the iOS to Apple TV. The reasoning behind this is likely a matter of input device – the Apple TV doesn’t have a touch interface. So a majority of apps that were developed for a touch interface would be deemed useless. But it would allow for people to develop for the device, likely casual games. And apps could be developed to use an iPhone as the remote control, basically making the gesture controls on a phone run your TV. Without iOS powering the device, it looks and feels a full generation behind http://www.google.com/tv/.

The second big opportunity lost was a lack of content. Apple is currently the most powerful consumer electronics company in the world. When Steve Jobs didn’t want Flash on the iPad, the entire world jumped on the HTML5 bandwagon. But even Apple couldn’t get more content providers on board – just NBC and FOX. This is perhaps because the revenue margins would be so low at $.99 per rental. But it also may be because they still are treating it as a hobby, investing their resources and bartering power in the devices they take more seriously.

So the new Apple TV will be nice for anyone who has always wanted to carry around a set-top box in their back pocket. But for the rest of us, Apple TV is little more than entertainment while we wait at the Apple Store for Genius Bar to tell us why our iPhones’ battery drains so quickly.

If you were already a member of the Apple family before today you had the unique opportunity to live stream the Apple Special event. I tuned into the event on my iPad and was immediately impressed with the pre-event production values. The number of cameras and the way they panned the crowd reminded me of an award show. Instead of focusing on celebrities the cameras were turned to all the different apple devices audience members were using. They did show a lot on the Woz though. Now, having access to this live stream made me think for a brief moment that I should live blog the event … but only for a brief moment.

Many rumors were confirmed today. Steve Jobs presented some iOS updates, including 4.1 which will be coming next week and 4.2 which will be out in November with an iPad focus. One of the bigger updates coming next week is the inclusion of HDR photography which actually takes three images; one in normal mode, one over exposed and one under exposed. Then the images are combined to optimize the image. Both the normal image and the optimized image will be saved in your pictures. Next weeks update will also see bug fixes, HD video upload over WiFi, TV Show rentals and Game Center. iOS 4.2 will finally bring the iPad up to speed introducing a couple handy features including wireless printing and AirPlay which will allow you to stream content to your Apple TV.

The iPod line was refreshed from head to toe. The Shuffle has buttons again and is smaller than ever. The Nano had a drastic change, switching to a small multi touch display and including many features from the Shuffle including the clip. As expected the iPod Touch is taking on many iPhone featurs including cameras for face time and a retina display. The Touch will also take advantage of all the iOS updates. Each device boasts enhanced batter life.

We were expecting some kind of move from iTunes toward the cloud and social. What we got was the introduction of iTunes 10 and Ping, “Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes” the music social network. iTunes appeared simplified and streamlined many of the social features mimicked the kind of interactions we can expect on Facebook, but oriented around music. iTunes 10 and Ping will be available to today so you can jump in to the music social network with two feet.

The second generation of Apple TV debuted and was presented as a “hobby” but kept its old name. This version of the product boasted a much smaller form factor than the previous generation, almost a quarter of the size, and a much smaller price tag, $99. This generation ignores storage and focuses on a rental model for content. First run movies will cost $4.99 per rental and HD TV shows will be $.99 although only two studios have signed on for that pricing model, FOX and ABC. Jobs did promise that others will follow. The Netflix integration appeared seamless and superior to the experience on PS3 or XBOX 360 and the AirPlay feature in iOS 4.2 will allow smooth media transitions between iOS devices and Apple TV.

The whole event can be watched here (assuming you have a Apple device to watch it on) including a closing set by Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin, who at one point was commended to play “another one” by Steve Jobs.

Did anything surprise you from the announcements today? Was anything missing?

Once the iPad went on sale, and sold in a big way (3 million units in under 3 months), it was just a matter of time until other hardware manufacturers scrambled to come out with tablets to compete. Tablet fever is spreading, and spreading fast. Apple CEO Steve Jobs wanted to position the iPad as the flagship of a new category of device, between a smartphone and a laptop. This new category is now starting to fill up with more devices, including a couple that were announced recently – the Stream TV eLocity A7 and the ViewSonic ViewPad 7. (The 7s are not in homage to Windows 7, but in reference to each device’s screen size.)

Both devices boast very iPad-like characteristics, but they both seem to have found ways to differentiate themselves. Over the next several months leading into the Holiday buying season, we can expect to see similar devices from a host of manufacturers, all trying to be similar, but different. It will be difficult to beat the iPad since it was born into a rich family of hundreds of thousands of existing apps, inter-operable siblings (iPhone, iMac, Macbook, etc.), and a cult following. But both the eLocity and the ViewPad 7 are doing their best.

ViewSonic ViewPad 7

The ViewPad 7 comes in as an Android contender,  which is quickly gaining momentum among consumers and developers alike. It will run on Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will likely work with many of the applications already developed for the mobile OS. This will potentially seamlessly connect the tablet to other Android devices such as mobile phones and Google TV devices. That could be a pretty cool trio.

But the ViewSonic also brings a couple more features to the table that were left out of the iPad. It has a VGA forward-facing camera for video chat, and rear-facing 3 megapixel camera. And, perhaps most significantly, the ViewSonic makes phone calls. Why this is not enabled in the iPad still escapes me. It wouldn’t make sense to use it as a conventional handset – after all, few but Chuck Norris would have the strength to hold an iPad up to their ear for more than a minute – but it would make sense in a Bluetooth or ear bud scenario. The combination of all these features could dethrone the iPad as the coolest device in the keyboard-less netbook/oversized smartphone category.

Stream TV eLocity A7

The eLocity A7 focuses its features around its powerful Tegra 2 chips which enable smooth gaming experiences and capacity to output 1080p video. It could be used as a companion device to an HDTV, where you could connect it via HDMI, control it via a wireless keyboard (provided with the device) and watch content from the device on a TV. It is unclear whether the device could be used to pull content from the cloud like the Roku, Xbox Live, or the rumored Apple TV, but coming from a company called Stream TV, you’d certainly hope so. It also runs on Froyo. (So do I, by the way. Three meals a day.)

The eLocity and the ViewPad do seem promising, as do other Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy tablet. However, they do have one seemingly fatal flaw – they aren’t iPads.

Well friends, it’s that time of year again. Apple is holding a “Special Event” on Wednesday September 1st. Rumors are flying about what will be revealed at the event. Typically the fall event focuses on music, so we can expect iPod refreshes. Engadget has an overview of all the product rumors that have come out thus far.

Images of third party cases have been popping up that seem to confirm some of the rumors. The iPod Nano appears to be getting a 1.7 inch touch screen and the iPod Touch is getting a make over with a front facing camera.

We may also see an announcements regarding a iTV/Apple TV and possibly an iTunes move toward the cloud.

Now we’ve done our part to spread the rumors and generate more Apple buzz. The event will take place on Wednesday at 10:00 AM PST and there will be lots of organizations live blogging as it happens. And remember to keep an eye out for your obligatory Apple email after the event confirming how amazing their new products really are.