Jordan Kahn

We recently reviewed one of our favorite keyboard solutions for the iPad, Logitech’s Ultrathin iPad Keyboard Cover. However, we have seen a few new competitors since then. Most notably: ZAGG’s new KeysPRO line, which we were able to get our hands on at IFA last month. The ZAGGKeys PRO caught our eye with its backlit keys, rugged build quality and battery life of up to three weeks at eight hours a day. It has potential to become the go-to iPad keyboard when it goes on sale at the end of the month (full review on the way), but one keyboard recently released already has it beat, at the very least, on battery life…

Logitech’s new Solar Keyboard Folio for iPad 2 and 3 comes with one impressive claim: the ability to type for two hours a day for two years on a full charge…even in the dark. That claim combined with a solid Logitech keyboard similar to what we’re used to from the company’s past iPad products, we essentially get solar power and a folio-style case added to the Ultrathin Keyboard cover for an extra $30.

I have had long enough since its release to put it to the test and have a couple of thoughts:

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Avid, maker of the music industry’s leading digital audio workstation software called Pro Tools, has officially announced its first Thunderbolt interface for Pro Tools with the new Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface and PCIe card. Thanks to Thunderbolt, Avid says the new Pro Tools|HD Native provides the “highest performance and lowest latency of any native DAW” yet. As usual, Avid bundles your choice of either the Thunderbolt interface or PCIe card with its Pro Tools HD software, and you will also get a choice of a Pro Tools HD Series audio interface including either the HD OMNI or HD I/O.

In addition to an “audiophile-grade headphone output” powerful enough to drive high impedance headphones, a few of the benefits of the new Thunderbolt interface according to Avid:

Unlike USB- or FireWire-based DAWs, which are inherently prone to latency, Pro Tools|HD Native employs either a high-speed Thunderbolt interface or PCIe core card to connect Pro Tools HD Series interfaces with your laptop or desktop computer. By eliminating distracting monitor latency while recording, increasing your I/O capabilities, and providing 64-bit floating-point processing for more headroom and a higher mix resolution, you get a professional native solution that meets the highest audio standards.

Pricing for the two packages ranges from $4,999 to $5,999, but Avid is also offering Digi 002, Digi 003, and Mbox Pro owners a hardware trade-in worth $1000:

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Gmail version 1.3.1: The Gmail iOS app was updated today with the ability to open web links within the Chrome iOS app instead of Safari. A handful of bug fixes were also included.

Tumblr version 3.1.0: Tumblr’s iPhone app gets a nice update that brings improvements to notifications, the ability to discover new blogs to follow via Facebook or your contacts and an option for your friends to sign up within the app itself. Other improvements included in the update: you can now track specific tags, a fast re-blog option by tapping and holding the re-blog icon and the ability to send fan mail. There are also some new sharing options when holding the “Like” button.

Minecraft – Pocket Edition version 0.4.0: A major release for the Pocket Edition of Minecraft includes a ton of new features, items, tweaks and bug fixes. A full list of what is new is below:

– Chests for storing items!
– Beds for skipping to dawn (day and nights are now longer), and set your spawn point to the bed’s position.
– Creepers and TNT (use flint and steel to ignite)!
– Added food. Eat it to restore health.
– Farming; wheat, seeds and hoe.
– Peaceful mode setting: healing and no monsters.
– Trapdoor, new dyes and a few new recipes.
+ More: close to 20 bug fixes and tweaks, e.g. monsters spawned when bright, client fall damage.

Plants vs. Zombies version 1.9.5: Along with full HD support for the new Retina iPad, PopCap updated all the Plants vs. Zombies iOS apps today with five new levels, three new achievements and new weapons and game modes:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrgO8Zseh6E&feature=youtu.be]

Live from Amazon’s Kindle event; the company just unveiled a refreshed Kindle Fire lineup dubbed the “Kindle Fire HD”. A few of the highlights: the device now comes in an 8.9-inch 1,920-by-1,200-pixel variant (in addition to a new 7-inch 1,280-by-800-pixel HD model) with 254 ppi, double the RAM of previous models, longer battery life, and a laminated touch sensor that reduces screen glare by up to 25 percent. The 8.9-inch Fire HD is set to ship Nov. 20 for $299, while a 7-inch Fire HD will cost you $199 when it ships Sept. 14.

Amazon also announced a 32GB 4G LTE model will ship Nov. 20 for $499 with LTE packages starting at $50 per year:

A few other notable specs for the new Fire HD line:

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Update: North County Times has more details on the incident and confirmed it was indeed a botched robbery attempt with one suspect currently in custody:

Temecula police Sgt. Dean Spivacke said the damage was caused by someone who bashed their way into the store with an sport utility vehicle at around 5 a.m., got it stuck inside the store and then rammed their way out… Once inside the store, several people got out of the vehicle and attempted to steal various electronics… Temecula police Lt. Doug McGrew said Thursday that a license plate on the vehicle, a 2003 BMW SUV, got ripped off during the incident and left behind at the scene.

Apple’s Promenade Temecula retail store in California is closed for the time being, as several reports confirmed a vehicle crashed through the location’s glass storefront and security gate. Tech-shizzle posted the images above. MacRumors reported that this is a robbery (but it looks like they forgot to pick up the iPads) tactic—perhaps a super-sized smash and grab?

[tweet https://twitter.com/ifostore/status/243901416102576132]

[tweet https://twitter.com/joshfryer/status/243778956602507264]
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According to a report from Reuters, South Korean regulators, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, are investigating Samsung regarding complaints from Apple that the company is “abusing its dominant position in wireless technology.” The issue at hand is whether Samsung is using its monopoly in the tech industry to demand higher licensing fees from Apple.

The FTC is investigating whether Samsung is unfairly competing in the market by abusing its dominance in wireless technology patents. Apple filed its complaints earlier this year, said an FTC official, who is not authorized to talk to the media…European Union regulators have also been investigating Samsung for possible breaches of antitrust rules by accusing rivals of infringing its technology patents.

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Bloomberg is weighing in today on Apple’s much-rumored entrance into the living room, with a new report claiming stalled talks with cable and content providers means we will not see a new television-related product this year. Several recent reports provided different scenarios for Apple’s TV plans. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported last month that Apple is in negotiations with cable operators regarding using the $99 Apple TV as a set-top box of sorts. If the “person familiar with the company’s plans” that Bloomberg quoted today is accurate, Apple is apparently hitting roadblocks in getting the cable companies to let it control the user interface and user experience:

In recent negotiations, the main stumbling blocks with cable companies have included a tussle for control over the software that determines the screen interface — the look and feel of the viewer’s experience, said people familiar with the discussions. That’s also what TiVo Inc. (TIVO) has been offering for more than a decade with its hard drive-equipped set-top box that allows viewers to easily record broadcasts and, more recently, stream Internet fare. TiVo’s growth, though, has been stymied by fierce resistance from cable TV providers.

Another source of disagreement between Apple and the cable operators, according to Bloomberg, is the decision to sell the Apple set-top box directly to customers or lease it through the cable operators themselves. The report continued by noting recent negotiations have included talks related to providing Apple TV users with access to live broadcasts under a paid cable subscription: 
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In the lead up to Apple’s Sept. 12 media event, where most expect the next-generation iPhone to be unveiled, there are still some things —believe it or not— that we don’t know about the device. The new iPhone is rumored to sport a longer, four-inch display, a smaller dock connector, an overall thinner design, updated RAM, and other internal components. But we have not heard much about the camera, which is one of the most important parts of any smartphone.

There is some evidence that Apple has now centered the FaceTime camera, such as the next-generation iPhone backs that we posted in May, and Apple seems to be moving toward FaceTimeHD, but we also expect the device’s rear camera to receive an upgrade over the previous-generation iPhone 4S.

While the iPhone 4S introduced a redesigned 5 lens camera system with a new sensor and 8-megapixels, the game has definitely been stepped up with a number of camera-related product announcements from Sony, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. If the next-generation iPhone’s camera is to keep its lead with the most recent devices announced by these manufacturers, Apple is likely planning an improved camera system for the ‘iPhone 5’.

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Following a report late last month that T-Mobile would encourage unlocked iPhone users to switch carriers by advertising savings of $1,500 over two years versus AT&T, a report from TmoNews this morning claimed sources have indicated stores are preparing to display or possibly demo unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile’s 3G network. According to the report, store managers are being “asked to activate a new microSIM before the end of August, but not told what device it would used with.”

All the intel streaming in seems to point to a “bring your own iPhone” demonstration in store, which lines up perfectly with what T-Mobile’s been saying all along for their refarmed network. We’re also told that these in store displays all align with T-Mobile’s “selling against the iPhone” strategy in the hopes that customers will be enticed by bringing their own device, and pairing it with T-Mobile’s newly launched unlimited data plan.

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As part the International keynote presentations at IFA this year, AMD exec and president of the HSA foundation, Phil Rogers, took the stage to give an update on the current state of the not-for-profit alliance. For those of you unfamiliar with the foundation, HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture), is described as “a heterogeneous compute ecosystem, rooted in industry standards, for combining scalar processing on the CPU with parallel processing on the GPU while enabling high bandwidth access to memory and high application performance at low power consumption.”

While the addition of Samsung, among other partners Texas Instruments, ARM, AMD, and Imagination Technologies, was the big news of the day for most, a short demo by partner Apical was what really caught our attention.

Apical’s “Assertive Display” technology is already present in a few devices, such as Sharp’s AQUOS PHONE SH-01D, but during its demo for the HSA keynote, Apical showed off the tech working on an iPad…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQUTHGE3qs0]
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fctZx8_Naa8]

We had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Sharp today at its IGZO display booth. While they would not say which Apple products would incorporate their new displays, they did seem to insinuate these were the best displays on the market, and Apple is the type of company that uses the best displays.

So why are these the best?

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ZAGG, perhaps best known for its invisibleShield screen protector, is adding two new additions to its also popular lineup of keyboards and cases tonight with the unveiling of two super-thin Bluetooth keyboards designed specifically for iPad.  The keyboards, ZAGGKeys PRO for $99 and PRO Plus for $129, feature the usual iOS specific functions such as media playback and volume controls, copy and paste keys, as well as keys for the Home button, search, etc.

Think the backlighting might drain the battery? HA! If you use the keyboard for eight hours a day, you will get up to three weeks of normal use…and remember that is the backlit model! The keyboard will come in English, French, and German models at launch.

We got our hands on the new keyboards tonight at the ShowStoppers IFA press event and were quiet impressed with the overall build quality. They do not feel cheap (the opposite), which is not too surprising given ZAGG’s reputation of building military grade screen protectors and other quality protective accessories.

The two models are identical to one another, including a magnetic closure that allows it to act as a screen protector when not in use. However, an extra $20 will upgrade you to the Pro Plus model with a backlit keyboard, which is a feature that has noticeably been missing from the go-to iPad keyboards currently on the market.

Will Zagg leapfrog our current favorite ultrathin iPad keyboard from Logitech?

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNLbm7XP5qg]

LifeProof already made a splash with its water, dirt, snow, and shockproof cases for iPhone 4 and 4S ($54). Today, at the ShowStoppers IFA event in Berlin, we were able to get our hands on LifeProof’s latest creation: an iPad version of the popular Nüüd case. If you are unfamiliar, the Nüüd cases feature no screen protection (although there is now an optional display cover that doubles as a stand), but it instead protects your iPad from the elements by creating a seal around the perimeter of the display. The case is currently available for iPad 2 and 3 through the LifeProof website and bundled with the screen protector/stand for €127.53 ($160 USD). Go past the break for another video demo of the Nüüd case ‘skinny dipping’ (being submerged in water).

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