Mark Gurman

Earlier this year, Apple uploaded an interesting corporate employee recruiting video. It might just be the most in-depth tour of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters that we have ever seen on a public forum, especially Apple’s own website.

The video takes you through Apple’s engineering labs, let’s you see how the Apple website team examines web pages, discusses the backstory on Apple’s work on new battery chemistry, tells the true, and interesting, backstory on the creation of the iPad 2’s Smart Cover, and more.

Notably, Apple’s VP of Human Resources and Dean of Apple University, Joel Podolny, narrates much of the four minute clip. The video is definitely worth a watch for any Apple fan, after the break:

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Following up its purported next-generation iPhone physical mockups, GottaBeMobile has posted a similar series of shots, but for the rumored smaller iPad. In this report, the site notes that the hardware seems to be case molds.

Not many unknown details are shown in these images, but the design is said to be thinner than that of the current-generation 9.7-inch iPad. Also, the rumored smaller dock connector is shown between dual speaker grills. More after the break:

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GottaBeMobile claims to show photos of what it is calling “iPhone 5 engineering samples.” These photos appear to be of a physical construction of the rumored next-generation iPhone design. The report calls the metal mockup (which in the end may simply be a case maker’s mold, we speculate) slightly taller than the iPhone 4/4S, yet thinner and a design with the same width…

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As leaked earlier this week, Twitter has released a major update to its iPhone application with improved notifications, interactive tweets and more. Here are all of the new features:

– Expanded Tweets: when you view Tweet details containing links to partner websites, you can now see content previews, view images, play videos and more [please note: this feature is rolling out gradually]
– Enhanced experience around selected events with the best Tweets and photos from those involved
– Push notifications for Tweets: choose to receive notifications from people you follow anytime they tweet or retweet
– Ambient notifications: enables you to see brief non-interruptive notifications in the status bar while you are using the app
– Improvements to search autocomplete for users
– Discover: now indicates when new stories are available for you to view
– Tappable avatars that take you directly to user profiles
– Performance improvements
– Support for password entry in app when experiencing authentication issues
– Hungarian language support
– Updated with new Twitter bird
– Many other tweaks, polish, and bug and crasher fixes

You can grab the free update from the App Store here. 

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As OS X Mountain Lion’s launch nears, Apple has informed developers to start submitting their optimized Mac App Store software for review. OS X Mountain Lion launches later this month with 200 new features.

Make sure your apps take advantage of the great new features in OS X Mountain Lion when the world’s most advanced operating system ships to millions of customers worldwide. Download OS X Mountain Lion GM seed and Xcode 4.4 GM seed, now available on the Mac Dev Center. Build your apps with these latest seeds, then test and submit for review. You can also submit iOS apps that take advantage of the new cross-platform Game Center Groups, so they’ll be available when OS X Mountain Lion ships.

A complete, “Golden Master” version of OS X Mountain Lion was released to developers earlier today, and this is the build that we expect Apple to provide customers with this month. The update will cost $19.99 for Snow Leopard and Lion users, and it will be available via the Mac App Store.

OS X Mountain Lion includes several new features that developers can take advantage of such as iCloud integration, Notification Center, Gatekeeper, and Game Center.

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iOS 6’s redesigned App Store has leaked a major forthcoming update to Twitter’s official iPhone application in its update history section. Twitter, in recent months, has come under fire due to potential new changes to its mobile application API and the lack of power-user features in its official mobile device apps. It appears that this controversy may change in the coming days, as leaked release notes show some impressive new changes. Twitter for iPhone 4.3 is incoming and it brings several new features focusing on interactivity, enhanced notifications, searching, performance, and more. You can find all of the new features – summarized from Twitter’s release notes – after the break:
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The sequel to the wildly popular iOS game Tiny Wings is arriving July 12, and the creators have put together an interesting trailer. Tiny Wings has previously been compared to Angry Birds in terms of addictiveness. Enjoy:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXUiyK1olZ8]

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is developing a smartphone to go head-to-head with the iOS and Android handsets. Amazon is reportedly working with Foxconn to build the device, the same manufacture for many of Apple’s mobile devices including the iPhone and iPad.

In order to prepare for the launch of their phone, Amazon plans to build up a wireless-related patent portfolio, according to the report. Amazon already sells the successful Kindle Fire with a 7-inch display, a device that demonstrates the firm’s aptitude for building a high-quality, customized mobile operating system (based on Android).

Amazon has its own series of content and distribution channels, including cloud services for downloading media like movies and books, making their Amazon phone an obvious competitor to Apple’s iPhone and its portfolio of media content stores like the iTunes Store and iBookstore…

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Judge Koh, the judge presiding over the recent patent-based suits between Apple and Samsung, has ruled against Samsung’s request for the preliminary injunction on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone to be lifted, Reuters reports. More details after the break:

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In a well-timed article amidst a string of analyst-based smaller iPad rumors, Bloomberg reports that a smaller iPad is on its way. The report says that this new iPad has a display that comes in between 7 and 8 inches, and it will be announced in October. The report also says that this smaller iPad will feature a 1024 x 768 display, not the Retina-resolution screen found on the third-generation 9.7-inch iPad. The October launch for the smaller iPad was first reported by iMore. iMore also reported that the smaller iPad will be priced between $199 and $249. 

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iPad versus Tab 10.1 (Credit: AnandTech)

As relayed by Reuters, a judge has blocked Samsung’s request for a lift of the recently placed injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. This ruling follows last week’s ruling in which an injunction was placed on the Android tablet.

Apple posted a $2.6 million bond to put last week’s injunction into action.

While the rejection of a lift on the Tab 10.1 injunction is notable, this likely won’t affect Samsung too much as the company has already released new tablets and a successor to the banned touchscreen multimedia computer.

In addition to this injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Apple was granted a preliminary injunction on Samsung and Google’s popular Galaxy Nexus smartphone. The ruling on the Nexus came just days after Google announced enhancements to the device such as the addition of the Android 4.1 operating system, Jelly Bean.

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Apple has rolled out the new iCloud.com beta website for registered iOS and Mac developers. The new website was leaked prior to WWDC and is accessible at beta.icloud.com. The new iCloud.com beta does not include many changes, but Notes and Reminders applications have been built for the web. Also included is a new Find my iPhone and an improved Calendar application. (Via MacRumors).

After the break, we have added a screenshot tour of the new iCloud.com beta website for developers:

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Apple has announced on its Investor Relations website that its Q3 2012 results will be released on Tuesday, July 24th. The call will be held at 2PM Pacific/5PM Eastern time. Streaming will be available via QuickTime through Apple’s website.

Apple will release OS X Mountain Lion this month, and notably, Apple released OS X Lion – last year – on the day following their Q3 2011 earnings call. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer used the Q3 2011 call to announce OS X Lion’s availability on the following day. Perhaps Apple will take a similar approach this year, but that is just speculation. More details after the break: 

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As noted by MacStories, Apple will be adding a new Food and Drink category to the iTunes App Store. According to Apple’s email to select developers, the new category will go live in “the next few weeks.” The new app section will cover a slew of food related apps, but not shopping, dieting, or food-related games. Restaurant and bar finding apps, recipe apps, cooking and baking apps will be supported, though, per Apple’s email. In preparation for this new category, Apple is contacting developers of apps that have been deemed fit for the new category. Developers have the option to accept or decline addition to the new section.

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iPad sign inside of Chinese Apple Store (Credit: Yahoo)

According to the Associated Press, Apple has ended their long-running iPad name dispute in China with Proview with a $60 million settlement. The ruling was made Monday by the Guangdong High People’s Court. While it got $60 million, Proview wanted even more:

Proview hoped for more money but felt pressure to settle because it needs to pay debts, said a lawyer for the company, Xie Xianghui. He said the company had hoped for as much as $400 million and might still be declared bankrupt in a separate legal proceeding despite the infusion of settlement money.

Apple had purchased the iPad name from Proview in 2009 under a shell company, but the use of the name iPad in China by Apple was ruled to never officially been granted. In February, Proview brought the lawsuit stateside, but a California judge ruled against Proview in the United States in early May.

This $60 million settlement is substantially more than the rumored $16 million offering from Apple. Even at $60 million, the fee is a small amount compared to what would occur – marketing and sales wise – if Apple were to actually lose the right to use the name “iPad” in China.

Apple has been moving quickly in China over the past couple of years, expanding iPad, iPhone, Mac and other product sales in the region while also rolling out updated software to better support the nation.

Apple’s upcoming update to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, iOS 6, and update to Mac OS, OS X Mountain Lion, include the Chinese Web search service Baidu as a search option in Safari in addition to built-in support for Chinese social networks and Mail services.

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