Jordan Kahn

Following some extremely big product announcements at CES 2012, Behringer has at least one more product lineup to show off at the upcoming NAMM 2012 from Jan. 19 to Jan. 22. Based off Behringer’s mobile digital XENYX mixers, the new high-end XENYX iX Series lineup includes three small form factor mixer/usb audio interfaces with integrated iPad docking stations.

All three models, including the XENYX iX3242USB, iX2442USB and iX1642USB pack in a stereo USB audio interface, XENYX mic pre amps with a dynamic range of 130 dB, 3-band channel EQ designed after “circuitry used in British consoles,” and “one-knob” compression on every mono channel. Of course, the iPad will act as the mixer’s main display, enabling any number of live recording and performance setups through “literally thousands of apps”…

 

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With Apple’s entrance into the digital textbook space expected to take place tomorrow at its media event in New York City, a 1996 Steve Jobs interview from Wired gives us a glimpse into how the CEO viewed the potential for technology to transform education. Specifically, Jobs claimed the problems facing education were sociopolitical issues and unions, something he said “cannot be fixed with technology.” Jobs also discussed a new model for education in the interview, well over 10 years before his concept of free textbooks on iPads was revealed in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs bio.

Here’s an excerpt from the Wired interview:

I used to think that technology could help education. I’ve probably spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet. But I’ve had to come to the inevitable conclusion that the problem is not one that technology can hope to solve. What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.

It’s a political problem. The problems are sociopolitical. The problems are unions. You plot the growth of the NEA [National Education Association] and the dropping of SAT scores, and they’re inversely proportional. The problems are unions in the schools. The problem is bureaucracy.

As Wired pointed out, with Apple’s forthcoming push into education, the bureaucracies of teacher’s unions Jobs spoke of will likely be replaced with political issues facing state curriculum boards and standards requirements. According to special education policy researcher Sherman Dorn, the GarageBand for eBooks rumor could face hurdles, as Apple must meet strict standards required for technology used by federal governments (via Wired):

“Section 508 [of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act] (accessibility) complicates text GarageBand utopian visions,” Dorn says. Section 508 mandates that all electronic and information technology used by the federal government be equally accessible to users with disabilities. “We’ve been told multimedia requires captioning, scripts, etc.,” to meet the standards set by section 508, says Dorn. “Very labor-intensive.”

In the Wired interview, Jobs goes on to discuss a new model for education that would be similar to startups in the tech industry. Jobs imagined a world where parents are given a $4,400 voucher per year to pay for school. The result, “People would get out of college and say, ‘Let’s start a school.’ You could have a track at Stanford within the MBA program on how to be the businessperson of a school.” Jobs explained:

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published today a series of recently-granted patents filed by Apple Inc., one of which is an Apple TV related patent for recording episodic cable TV and credits Steve Jobs as an inventor. With the industry expecting Apple to make its entrance into the HDTV hardware space, methods of organizing episodic programming described in today’s patent could very well be implemented in future Apple television-related products. Patently Apple explained:

The patent goes on to state that the menu items, could, for example, “correspond to television shows that have either been recorded from a broadcast or purchased from a content provider. Recording broadcast TV shows isn’t an option available today on Apple TV, so it’s interesting to see that this option was listed in this 2006 Apple TV patent which also credits Steve Jobs as one of the inventors.

Within the patent, there is a mention of “Apple TV working with a cable network,” and PatentlyApple noted a patent published in January 2011 that details the ability for a media system to connect to a “cable service provider.” Today’s patent was originally filed in Q3 2006, and in addition to Steve Jobs, it lists Rainer Brodersen, Rachel Goldeen, Jeffrey Ma and Mihnea Pacuraiu as inventors.

A recent report from The Wall Street Journal claimed Apple already met with executives of major media companies to discuss a voice-powered HDTV that utilizes Airplay and cloud DVR features that sound similar to the patent published today.

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With a recent report from Bloomberg claiming next-generation iPad production has officially kicked off with a high-resolution display, quad-core processor, and LTE functionality, a new report from Japanese publication Macotakara claimed an iPad 3 launch event would take place in early February. The report cited sources in the U.S. and Asian supply chain and said the new iPad will most likely be released in early March. The report from Bloomberg backed up the launch date by claiming production will reach “full volumes by February.”

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Samsung made a formal request with the U.S. District Court in California for Apple to reveal the intricacies of its contract with wireless chipmaker Qualcomm, who currently supplies chips for the iPhone 4S, CDMA iPhone 4, and iPad 2. Qualcomm is currently in a cross licensing agreement with Samsung, bringing up the question of whether “Apple’s buying Qualcomm chips is as good as paying for the patents.” The documents could potentially reveal Apple’s plans to move to Qualcomm LTE chips in future iOS devices.

Specifically, Samsung defense lawyer Dylan Ruga wants to know if Apple is considered a “Qualcomm Customer,” a term that is “defined in certain licensing agreements between Samsung and Qualcomm.” The request was discovered in court documents by Korea Times and later confirmed by Samsung Electronics spokesperson Lim Yoon-jeong. Korea Times reported:

Samsung Electronics is alleging that Apple has infringed on Samsung-owned patents that relate to technology embodied in chipsets used in Apple’s iPhones and iPads. The documents are expected to determine whether Apple is in fact a direct customer of Qualcomm — and potentially immune from Samsung’s suits — or whether it purchased its chips through an intermediary.

Here is an excerpt from the document that has not been released by the courts:
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Last week Apple sent out invites for an education focused event set to take place in New York City this Thursday, Jan. 19 at the Guggenheim museum. The event will almost certainly be unveiling a partnership with publishers for textbooks as Apple reportedly worked with publisher McGraw-Hill for the upcoming announcement since June, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Cengage Learning, one of the biggest publishers of textbooks for higher education, will also be attending the event. With rumors that the announcement would revolve around iBooks, many have speculated Apple will unveil a textbook solution optimized for iOS devices or integrated with iBooks, and possibly announce partnerships with major textbook publishers.

Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Business Development at Cengage Learning Bill Rieders would not comment on whether they have partnered with Apple for the announcement, but told WSJ the combination of the two companies “could be exciting.” Involvement from other major publishers including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson is not confirmed.

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Shawn Carolan of Menlo Ventures, an investor in Siri Inc., prior to Apple acquiring the company, recently sat down on Bloomberg to discuss the technology. Apart from talking about the initial demo that attracted him to the investment and meeting Siri Co-Founder Norman Winarsky, Bloomberg host Cory Johnson pressed him on exactly how Siri is able to take voice-recognition data and determine intent.

Around the 3:20 mark, Carolan discussed Siri’s unique approach of taking all words as “one big block” and mapping “those strings of words across” a group of 10 domains of expertise. This approach sounds familiar to at least one technology journalist who claimed the method is similar to patents owned by search portal Excite in 1994. Robert Cringely explained:

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Following the release of Apple’s 2012 Supplier Responsibility Report, Tim Cook issued the following internal email to Apple employees (via MacGeneration). In the email, Cook highlighted much of the report’s findings, but he also noted the Fair Labor Association will now perform independent audits of Apple’s supply chain. Apple is the first technology company the FLA has accepted, and the nonprofit organization’s auditing team will begin to report its independent findings on the FLA’s website. The full email from Cook is available after the break.

Tim Cook also recently talked with The Wall Street Journal in one of his first interviews as CEO to discuss his thoughts on tackling supply chain issues. Tim noted, “Working hours is a complex issue,” and he said Apple plans to start “monitoring these plants at a very, very micro level”:

“I have spent a lot of time in factories over my lifetime and we are clearly leading in this area. It is like innovating in products. You can focus on things that are barriers or you can focus on scaling the wall or redefining the problem.”

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Apple just posted its 2012 Supplier Responsibility Report highlighting its efforts to audit and improve working conditions within its supply chain. As part of the report, Apple also posted a list of 156 companies currently supplying components for Apple products that make up over 97 percent of all “procurement expenditures for materials, manufacturing, and assembly” of its entire product line globally.

The list includes Toshiba Mobile display, which is —as far as we know—currently not supplying displays for Apple. There were rumors in May that claimed Toshiba was working on a 4-inch retina display and rumors last month that Apple and Toshiba are building a plant for display production, which were later debunked by the increasingly unreliable DigiTimes. It also includes Sharp, who was recently rumored to be ruled out of iPad 3-panel production due to quality concerns but also supplies other components to Apple. The full list is available after the break.

In 2011, we conducted 229 audits throughout our supply chain — an 80 percent increase over 2010 — including more than 100 first-time audits. We continue to expand our program to reach deeper into our supply base, and this year we added more detailed and specialized audits that focus on safety and the environment.

Every year Apple audits suppliers in eight areas including: Anti-discrimination, Fair treatment, Prevention of involuntary labor, Prevention of underage labor, Juvenile worker protections, Working hours, Wages and benefits, and Freedom of association. The overall results can be seen in the graphic below. We also learned than Apple found 42 facilities delayed wages, 68 facilities did not provide proper benefits, and 67 facilities held back payments as punishment.

There were also 108 facilities failing to pay legal requirements for overtime and holiday pay, and 5 facilities with 6 active cases of underage labor, to which Apple is requiring the suppliers “support the young workers’ return to school and to improve its management systems.”

In the audits, Apple found 93 facilities currently have more than 50 percent of its staff exceeding the maximum 60 hour workweek (with one day of rest per 7 days) set by Apple’s Code of Conduct for suppliers:

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Apple’s “green push” is apparently the motivating factor behind cable-maker Volex’s plan to switch to halogen-free power cables, according to a report from London Evening Standard (via GigaOM). While the move will allow Apple to curb fears of dioxins and furans released into the environment through burning halogen, it is typically only a concern in high concentrations after a product has been disposed. The new cables will allow Apple to promote a new, greener and safer cable while continuing its commitment to reducing toxic chemicals and recycling. Apple is currently the company’s biggest customer with Volex supplying USB and power cables for Apple’s line of mobile devices including iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks.

The move to halogen-free cables is expected to cost Volex $6 million this year, but the company noted these are only one-time, startup costs and expect profit to meet market expectations. Apple is already shipping PVC–free internal cables and power adapter DC cables worldwide, and a PVC-free power cord in most of North and South America.

Apple made a significant push to go green in recent years and even published “A Greener Apple” detailing how it removed toxic chemicals such as lead, BFR, arsenic, PVC, and mercury from its entire product line. At that time, then CEO Steve Jobs shared his thoughts on Apple’s future in becoming an environmental leader within the industry:

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According to a report from Mercury News, Apple agreed to lease “a big research and office complex” outside Cupertino in Sunnyvale, Calif. The publication spoke to Colliers International, the realtor currently advertising the 215,000-square-foot section of Sunnyvale Research Center that Apple is now renting. Senior Vice President for Colliers Donald Reimann said Apple is slated to move in early this year:

“Apple is going to start moving into the buildings by the end of the first quarter. This is really a good fit for Apple because it’s close to their headquarters.”

Sunnyvale Research Center is a four-building research center located on East Arques Avenue and according to the report — it is just a seven-mile drive from the company’s main campus in Cupertino. Apple also apparently began renovations on another two buildings at 975 and 995 Benecia Ave., totaling over 100,000 square feet.

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Skype just announcedthe latest beta for Mac with version 5.5. The release includes a number of improvements including an upgraded call UI, and an option to accept a call with video enabled or disabled. Other enhancements include optimizations to stabilization and call quality.

Today, we’re pleased to announce an update to Skype for Mac with the launch of Skype 5.5 for Mac Beta… We have improved the discoverability of Call UI like Windows and iOS that users can easily mute, send video, share screen, send file and add people during a call.

As always, you can download the latest version, Skype 5.5 for Mac, from Skype’s website.

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The United States Patent & Trademark Office published an Apple patent application today (via PatentlyApple) detailing new 3D GUI concepts and touch-free, motion sensing gestures that would allow you to simply wave your hand over a device equipped with proximity sensors. This follows a patent application published in July that explores similar 3D gestures and user-interfaces, and another in September detailing 3D display and imaging technology that could lead to Kinect-like gestures on future Apple products.

The image to the right (larger version is below) shows a 3D UI environment consisting of two sidewalls, a back wall, a floor, and a ceiling. As you can see, 2D objects are posted to the back and sidewalls, while 3D objects rest on the floor of the environment. The patent mentions a “snap to” feature that appears to allow objects to move from one surface to another by changing the orientation of the 3D environment. In other words, the user’s perspective of the UI, which PatentlyApple said could be imagined as the “view from an imaginary camera viewfinder,” would change when rotation of the device is detected by its gyro sensor or accelerometer:

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[slideshow]

     The gallery above via Flickr user Liz Phung shows more shots from the launch in Beijing. There are also two images of  employees receiving their first shipments at China Unicom in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province (via xinhuanet). 

It is just over 8 hours before the iPhone 4S officially lands in China and huge lines already starting to form outside of Apple Stores in Beijing and Shanghai. The image below is from Instagram user Sanverde who noted he snapped the shot outside an Apple Store in Sanlitun Village, Beijing less than an hour ago. As you can see from the daytime image in the slideshow above (posted by Twitter user Alexander Galimberti on Jan. 10), Beijing line sitters started showing up for tonight’s launch days in advance. To the right is an image from Instagram user sainasilverman who says 400,000 units of the iPhone 4S have now arrived in Beijing.

China Unicom, the only carrier currently offering the iPhone 4S, does not currently accept pre-orders, but it will be offering the 16GB and 32GB models free on two- and three-year agreements. China Telecom, the nation’s third largest mobile carrier, is also expected to offer the iPhone in the future. The device recently received necessary approval from the China Radio Management agency for use on its CDMA network.

Check out the most recent shot of the lines outside the Sanlitun Village, Beijing Apple Store after the break and some more shots of gray market line sitters wearing red hats. According to MIC Gadget, those wearing a red cap have been paid 100 yuan ($16) to line up for the 12+ hour wait. We will be updating with more shots, so email your photographs of the lines to us at tips@9to5mac.com. 
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There are tons of accessories on the show floor at CES 2012 this year, many of which were designed specifically for our iOS devices. Earlier we brought you some of the best audio devices and accessories announced at the show, and now we have compiled all the other interesting docks, cases, and peripherals being unveiled for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

Displayed below are a couple multi-docks that provide various methods of charging multiple iOS devices simultaneously, a new “wireless HDMI” solution for beaming content to the big screen, and a couple iPhone cases that do much more than simply protect your device.

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Following reports this morning from Macotakara that claimed Sharp would be supplying display panels for a next-generation iPad, a conflicting report from Korean publication Electronic Times Internet News (via PatentlyApple) claimed Sharp “failed to pass Apple’s approval process for mass production.” The report also claimed Samsung and LG already kicked production for iPad 3 panels into full capacity as of the beginning of this year:

It has been confirmed that Samsung Electronics and LG Display will supply LCD panels for Apple’s iPad 3, which is scheduled to be unveiled as early as in Q1 this year. Sharp was originally known to be developing display panels, but reportedly failed in initial supply.

According to the report, Apple is planning on placing orders for 65 million LCD panels for iPad 3 during 2012. It also claimed Samsung and LG would be supplying 5 million displays in the first quarter to meet demand for the device’s launch. Although there is obviously no way to verify this, and the publication does not exactly have a track record for breaking Apple news, the report does mention the same XQGA (2048×1536) display as Macotakara’s. The report cited only an “industry source.”

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We brought you some of the hottest accessories launched at CES 2012 yesterday, such as the vertical MacBook Air Dock from Henge and a new lineup of cloud products from D-link. That list also included one audio product, Griffin’s Twenty amp enabling Airplay playback on non-powered speakers, but today we bring you the rest of the most intriguing audio accessories and peripherals launched at the show.

Among them: A new audio interface for iPad from Griffin, new iRig accessories from IK Multimedia, and controllers from Line 6 and ION.

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TomTom unveiled a new version of its iPhone and iPad app at CES 2012 that utilizes data from social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide users with enhanced navigation to friends, places, and events.

The press release does not provide much information on exactly how TomTom is using social network data, but the company claimed it would be a source for turn-by-turn navigation features baked into the current iOS apps. TomTom will obviously have to avoid user-generated data that might be inaccurate, but it is unclear what specific data the app will access. From the screenshots above, it appears you will be able to easily navigate to friends who have recently checked-in (with their location) to a social network.

The new app, version v1.10, will also allow you to share your destination and ETA through email, SMS, Twitter, or Facebook. Managing Director Consumer at TomTom Corinne Vigreux explained:

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In September, leaked documents emerged revealing Comcast was working on a live TV streaming service for iPad called “AnyPlay“ and now the company announced the service will roll out today. To start out, AnyPlay will only be available to Xfinity HD Triple Play subscribers located in Denver and Nashville, but the company plans to roll out to additional markets “in the coming months”.

The service will be accessible through the current Xfinity TV app. Comcast revealed exactly how it works:

the AnyPlay device works the same as any other set top box in the home, but instead of delivering the incoming channel lineup to a television, AnyPlay delivers the lineup to the Wi-Fi router on the home network. The router then distributes the secure video signal to the iPad or Xoom over your home’s wireless network. So as long as your tablet is within range of the home wireless router, you can turn it into another television screen.

In related iPad video streaming news, Showtime announced the Showtime Anytime iPad app today that brings Showtime Anytime subscribers over 400 hours of content. The app appears to only be available to AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS customers, but the press release does mention Comcast support “will be launched soon” and others will be added in the future.

Some of the content accessible form the app includes TV shows “Dexter,” “The Big C,” “House of Lies,” and movies “The King’s Speech,” “The Hurt Locker,” and “Inglorious Basterds.”  The company plans to launch an iPhone app for Showtime Anytime sometime early this year.

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CES 2012 officially kicks off today despite a ton of announcements from just about every major company in the days leading up to the event. We already gave you a peek at Thunderbolt enabled external drives from Western Digital, Hitachi and Seagate, and we showed you new accessories and hardware from LaCie, Belkin, and Elgato. Today, we bring you some of the newest accessories and peripherals shown off and announced in Las Vegas. Among them: A vertical dock for MacBook Air, an amp enabling Airplay playback on non-powered speakers, and a new lineup of cloud routers and cameras from Dlink.

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Nuance, the speech recognition company currently powering Apple’s Siri in the iPhone 4S, announced (via TechCrunch) it would be dropping a new voice-controlled TV platform known as “Dragon TV.” Apple is —of course— expected to include Siri-like voice capabilities in the rumored Apple branded HDTV, but Dragon TV has beat them to it with a platform that will enable users to find “content by speaking channel numbers, station names, show and movie names.”

Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today unveiled Dragon TV, a unique voice and natural language understanding platform for TV, device and set-top box OEMs and service operators. Dragon TV makes finding and accessing shows, movies and content in today’s digital living room easy and fun for consumers.

Nuance provided a few examples of what type of voice-control commands might work on the platform, such as “Go to PBS” or “Find comedies with Vince Vaughn,” but a user’s commands could include “virtually anything.” The company also announced the platform will include social and messaging features, such as email, Twitter, messaging, Skype, and Facebook. Those features will also be voice-controlled allowing a user to use voice-commands, such as “Send message to Julie: ‘Old School is on TBS again this weekend – super excited’”.

According to the press release, the Dragon TV platform is already available to television and device OEMs with support for “all major TV, set-top box, remote control and application platforms.” As for specific platforms, the press release mentions Linux, Android, and iOS. There is —of course— a possibility that the technology used in the Dragon TV platform will land in a version of Siri for an Apple TV device.

Senior Vice President and General Manager at Nuance Mobile Mike Thompson said this regarding the announcement:

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