Can you feel the anticipation for the end of the week? Despite the fact it’s only Monday, there’s definitely more than just a handful of people out there waiting for the weekend. Nevertheless, welcome to another edition of the Daily Slash, where we bring you the other interesting pieces of news you may have missed during the daily grind. In tonight’s issue, we have a few iPad stories that boast ridiculous numbers, as well as a little bit of (figurative) gold goodness. We’ve managed to wrangle up a DIY story that’s destined to make you want to get medieval on someone you know, and we’ve got bookends straight from a galaxy far, far away. And, to tie it all up, we’ve got the end of an era. Got that popcorn ready? Great. Let’s do it.

iPad Shipments Get Boosted, Estimates Now Nearing 10 Million: There’s no doubt that the iPad is doing well, with just five days before customers all over the United States receive their very own tablet. But, as we watch the days pass by, we’re bearing witness to ever-changing assumptions as to how many iPads are really being shipped. Starting from Apple Care specialists informing would-be tablet purchasers that in-store stock would be minimal, to hearing reports that Apple would manage 1 million iPads by mid-April, we can now assume that that number is definitely conceivable. With 152,000 pre-orders (or so) over the initial weekend, and somewhere in the ballpark of 500,000 pre-orders to date, it seems that the latest analyst report from Katy Huberty and Matthew Schneider of Morgan Stanley saying that Apple could ship upwards of 10 million iPads in the calendar year 2010. Big numbers. In fact, ridiculously big numbers, and guarantees that Steve Jobs is putting another “win” notch in his belt. [via PC World]

iPhone SDK 3.2 Gets the Gold Treatment: Are you a developer for the iPhone/iPad? Do you pay to be a developer for the iPhone/iPad? Well, today marked your lucky day (well before Saturday, of course), as Apple officially delivered the Gold Master seed of the iPhone SDK 3.2 to all of you. Which means, it’s the final, final version. No more Betas, and no more wondering what’s going to be added, or taken out in the next iteration. So, we’re hoping that someone out there finds something of interest before we all get our hands on the iPad. A few extra surprises never hurt anyone, right? [via Apple]

A Mini Catapult is Something We All Need: Ever wanted to have your very own catapult? Of course you have. And, sure, when you think of a catapult you may think of the medieval times, and therefore not very technologically advanced, but this Do It Yourself (DIY) kit for a mini trebuchet is definitely something we wanted to pass along. It’s a kit that you can purchase from Make Magazine, and they are even nice enough to explain how to put it together. You just need a counter-weight, scissors, a ruler, wood glue, and rubber bands. With something like this, you could annoy your co-workers all day long. [via CrunchGear]

These Bookends Make Us Want a Lightsaber To Stab . . . Books: Ever wanted to be stuck in a weird, inescapable vortex of ridiculousness? Or, how about trying to prove to your new girlfriend (or boyfriend) that you’re really not a geek, and that you love to read? Well, you don’t want to get these bookends, then. Ripped straight from the Dark Side of the Force, these make it look like Darth Maul came to your place and waged a mini war on your book collection. If anything, they’re definitely interesting to look at. [via Technabob]

Tony Fadell Leaves Apple for Greener Pastures: As we said: an end to an era. If you don’t know, Fadell is one of the brilliant minds behind the creation of the iPod. Yes, yes, Steve Jobs was definitely in there somewhere (/sarcasm), but the truth is, this is the man that had the master plan. He envisioned a hard drive-based digital music player in the 1990s, and even went to Real Networks for about six weeks, before he had a falling out with the company’s Chief Executive. When he showed up at Apple, well, ta-da. Fadell is leaving the company to focus on advising new companies, as well as to pursue private investments with a focus on green tech. We wish him the best of luck, and know that whatever he puts his mind to, we’ll definitely enjoy reaping the rewards of. [via New York Times]

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While the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta has been out since the official announcement of Apple’s iPad, developers haven’t been able to actually submit their applications anywhere. Apple has given them plenty of time to make the best applications they can, for the specific reason that they don’t want buggy software marring the release of their legendary tablet device. This is a sound strategy, but now the floodgates are open, and developers can officially submit their applications to the App Store.

The kicker is, is that if you want to have your application ready to go for the April 3rd launch, you need to have your application submitted to the App Store by March 27th. That’s not a big difference from the official launch, so Apple must be cracking down on the application approval process, as well as vetting which applications are actually worth launching. We’re hoping that we see a healthy number of iPad applications ready to go for launch, because as much as we love to play with those 150,000 other applications, we want to see what the iPad is really capable of. (Even if that will take some time to actually see.)

If you’re a developer, then you got the email telling you the good news. Hopefully you’ve got the next best app, as we all know that making it to that coveted number one spot in the App Store is one of those lofty goals that all developers make for themselves. May we suggest a groundbreaking game that takes full advantage of the hardware specifications of the iPad? While we’re perfectly excited about that first iPad game shown off, we are very excited to see the potential shown off by the developers out there.

[via Apple]

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