Mark is an award-winning journalist who worked at 9to5Mac for over six years. He covers Apple and other topics related to the consumer technology industry.
Six Mac OS X 10.7 Lion manuals have popped up on Amazon.UK recently with most of them pointing to a late July release date. One of them is pointing to an early August date and another is pointing to a late August release date. Based on this information alone, it would seem Lion was due after WWDC. We’ll see.
The cover of one of the Mac OS X Lion manuals makes reference to the already announced Launchpad and Mission Control features but also references the dock, most of which was demonstrated last year at the Lion announcement.
Amazon book release dates are sometimes a good indication of product launches. For example, we were first to report the exact release date of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac based on Amazon information. Thanks, Matthew!
GreenPois0n has just been upgraded to release candidate 6 and it includes support for the second generation Apple TV. GreenPosi0n will give your Apple TV an untethered jailbreak and will also install the popular NitoTV software on it. Let us know how it goes for you, in the comments. Get it here.
According to the Korea Herald, Apple’s new iPad will likely utilize Samsung’s newly revealed Super PLS technology. The current iPad, as well as the iPhone 4, use a technology called IPS, which provides outstanding viewing angles. Samsung’s PLS technology is superior to IPS in many regards. The viewing angles provided by PLS are improved as the display actually shifts the shape of the individual pixels so they are displayed brighter and with better contrast from more angles.
In addition to better viewing angles, the Super PLS display is also generally 10% brighter than the IPS technology. Perhaps the best part about these displays is that they cost around 15% less to manufacture than IPS displays. Apple typically uses multiple display manufactures for their products so it wouldn’t be a surprise for LG to have developed a similar technology. That might explain why our leaked iPad 2 screen is manufactured by LG is better quality than the first iPad display.
Just because the screen itself is better quality and has better viewing angles, does not mean it has a better resolution. According to our own findings in the SDK, and reports by the well-informed John Gruber and Wall Street Journal, the iPad 2 will utilize the same 1024 x 768 display as the current iPad. It seems like these display rumors are starting to come together well, and the iPad 2 is expected to launch sometime this quarter. More comparison shots of the displays are after the break.
Cult of Mac claims that Apple is working to revamp its long-critized notification system in iOS. This comes as no surprise with many rumors pointing to an iOS notification redesign, but the juicy part is that the report claims Apple has its eyes set on purchasing an App Store developer’s company to revamp their notification system.
Cult of Mac‘s source reportedly did not say which developer Apple will be buying to revamp the iOS notification system, but some possibilities include the widely popular Boxcar service by AppRemix. This all seems highly unlikely, but still possible with Apple’s large cash reserve and knack for buying companies, with Apple’s recent pickup of a leading HP webOS architect.
AT&T is continuing to say thank you to their iPhone users who are sticking with them. Last week was a 20% off an accessory coupon and this week is a free extra 1000 rollover minutes. Some readers have sent in screenshots of the above, let us know if you received one, too. Thanks, Vinod.
Update: We are hearing that if you did not recieve the text just send the word “yes” to the 11113020 number and you will recieve a text that says your account has been credited! Anyone want to verify?
Update 2: Confirmed below!
Update 3: There was some concern it was a scam but we’ve now verified it with AT&T – It’s legit.
iPhoneDownloadBlog points to an upcoming jailbreak-only tweak, which promises turn-by-turn voice navigation for the native iPhone Google Maps application. The tweak is said to be “coming soon” to Cydia with no specific launch of pricing information being available at this time. Turn-by-turn voice navigation in iPhone Google Maps has long been a popular feature request, and hopefully Apple brings it natively in future iOS upgrades. (via RazorianFly)
In an interview with TheAgeSony executive Michael Ephraim hinted that Sony may pull its iTunes music content from Apple’s store over a fallout with the company. At the end of January Apple rejected the Sony ebook reader application from the iOS App Store leading to this fallout between companies.
Sony is planning to launch a new music service called ‘Music Unlimited’ that will stream a library of over 6 million tracks to many devices including Sony TVs, Playstations, and Blu-Ray players. Ephraim said Sony’s new approach to the online music service is more open than Apple’s because it can be streamed directly to multiple devices and won’t have to be synced via a cable through a computer-application (iTunes).
Sony removing their music content from iTunes would be a big deal as Sony’s library includes popular artists like Bob Dylan (Steve’s favorite), Beyonce, and Guy Sebastian. The big hints also come through these quotes from the Sony executive:
If we do [get mass take up] then does Sony Music need to provide content to iTunes?” Mr Ephraim asked. ”Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTunes as that’s the format right now.
”Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold.
CNET claims that Apple’s recently updated MacBook Air line will be getting a refresh in June to include Intel’s upcoming Sandy Bridge processors. The report does not mention any other upgrades and they claim the knowledge comes from a “source familiar with Apple’s plans.”
Apple issued a major update to the MacBook Air in October 2010 to include a new 11 inch model, a thinner design, higher-resolution displays, 2 USB ports, faster solid-state flash drives, and the glass trackpad from Apple’s other notebooks.
Although Apple may update their MacBook Air again in June, we think it is unlikely given Apple’s MacBook Air update cycle, which is historically slower than their other Mac notebook products. Apple is also expected to update their MacBook Pro very soon with multiple reports claiming updates in the next couple weeks including our report showing the new notebook appearing in Best Buy inventory systems.
The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 is one of the smallest scanners on the market. It is small enough to fit in most bags and is just large enough to fit a normal piece of paper. Read on for the full review.
Opera has announced that their popular ‘Opera Mini Browser’ will be making its way soon to the iPad with a formal announcement at the upcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain. Anyone at the conference who wants a peek at the iPad version should stop by Hall 1, Booth C44.
105 million people might use Opera’s browsers today, but Opera Software cares even more about tomorrow. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, new versions of the Opera Mini browser on Android, iPhone, J2ME, BlackBerry, Symbian and even the iPad will appear.
No other information has been revealed so far about the browser so far. The browser should look fairly similar to the iPhone version, but will probably have some tweaks and new features that take advantage of the iPad’s larger display.
The popular BBC iPlayer service has finally made its way to the iPad, and is now available for free on the UK iTunes App Store. BBC iPlayer allows you to watch live TV from the BBC television station in addition to live radio broadcasts from the network. You can even select your “favorite” programs and these episodes will be “ready and waiting for you to watch.” We assume this means you will get an alert when a new episode is about to air, or it will be somehow saved for you to watch.
Browsing through iPlayer’s program guide is supported over 3G, but actually watching video will require connection to a Wi-Fi network. For those of you who are on tablets, or plan on getting tablets, other than the iPad, BBC says they will eventually release versions for you, too. BBC also says that HD video is not available on the iPad, but will be added at a later date.
We’ve just been tipped that Pages for iPad has Retina display icons. We’ve verified the findings, above. Our first thought was, oh dang, the iPad 2 is going to have Retina! But these icons don’t have iPad suffixes.
Another equally interesting possibility exists.
Pages, along with the rest of iWork, might be making its way, at long last, to the iPhone 4 and iPod touch with Retina. In either case (or if this is just Apple making bigger icons for the sake of being safe), we’ve also been hearing to expect updated versions of iWork and iWork.com for the iPad 2 launch later this quarter.
The evidence for a MacBook Pro refresh happening soon is strong, with multiple independent reports about supply constraints emerging recently. In addition, Best Buy, a top Apple reseller, has already placed “dummy” SKUs for new MacBook Pro models in their system with a March release date. Although Best Buy is not always right about release dates, that dummy SKUs do represent a refresh for Apple’s line of pro notebooks is near. Now, we have discovered the certain models of the MacBook Pro are “unavailable” for reservation at many of Apple’s official retail stores across the United States.
Apple’s product reservation tool notes that the 2.53 GHz 15 inch MacBook Pro is “unavailable” for reservation at most of the Apple Stores in the country, with the 17 inch 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro also not being available at certain stores. We have also discovered that Apple’s higher-end, 2.66 GHz 13 inch MacBook Pro is “unavailable” at some stores, but is less frequently “unavailable” compared to the described 15 and 17 inch models.
Last July it was noticed that the Mac Pros were showing up as “unavailable” in this same system. The refreshed Mac Pro was announced four days later. We’re not saying this means new MacBook Pros this week, we are just saying this is a strong indicator and substantial evidence for earlier reports regarding an upcoming refresh of the product. We have also checked Apple’s online store order times for the MacBook Pro, which is sometimes a good indication of an upcoming update, and the shipping times for all MacBook Pro models are at the usual ships in “24 hours” state.
The new device will be thinner, lighter and will come with a faster processor, more memory and a more powerful graphics processor, said the people familiar with the matter. It will have a front-facing camera for the first time for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the new iPad’s display will be similar to the first iPad, they said.
The report also claims the device will work with AT&T and Verizon 3G out of the box, but will not support Sprint and T-Mobile networks. The report says the iPad 2 is “in production” leaving no indication at a public release date. For those who don’t remember, the iPad 2’s front camera is expected to have a 0.3 megapixel resolution, which is common for video chatting cameras, and the back one will likely be close to 1 megapixel.
And we thought the iPhone 4 antenna issues were over… iLounge has put their Verizon iPhone 4 to the test (video above) and has determined the device has anntenuation issues like the AT&T version of the phone. In this case, it’s not the “death grip” but is the “death hug” and affects both the cellular and WiFi antennas. The issue appears to be on webpage loading times when gripping the iPhone 4. Another example of the “death hug”, below:
It looks like the AC/DC luving crew over at iPadDevice figured out how to take the leaked iPad 2 FaceTime files from the iOS 4.3 beta SDK and install them onto a first generation iPad. Because the files are from the SDK, we may be looking at the new iPad’s actual FaceTime application. The interface is very similar to the one found on FaceTime for Mac.
As we previously noted, the new iPad will feature an updated FaceTime logo, that is different than the one currently found on iOS 4.2-rocking iPod touches. When a FaceTime call comes in, your iPad 2 will ring and you will get a popup alert on your lock screen, or on top of the application you are currently working on.
Back to the actual interface, the FaceTime controls (end, mute, etc.) will be found on a floating window towards to bottom of the device’s display. The current iPad 2 does not have a camera and that is the reason for the lack of a camera preview on the lock screen when a FaceTime video call comes in, and when the user is actually FaceTime chatting. You will notice the above video is in Italian, but the concept is relatively the same.
Following our report this morning that the launch of updated MacBook Pros are imminent, we have been informed that Best Buy stores have recently placed in “Dummy SKUs” for an updated MacBook Pro line. According to the Best Buy inventory system, the new MacBook Pro line will feature an $1199 model, which is the base price for the current 13 inch MacBook Pro. This indicates that the up coming refresh will probably lack a price change.
Even more interesting is that the Best Buy inventory system is showing a March 11, 2011 release date for the upcoming MacBook Pro refresh. Although there is no way to know whether this date is absolutely correct or not, it is worth mentioning that Best Buy’s dates are traditionally a few days off. This can even represent the day Best Buy will have them in stock, versus actual announcement day. For those wondering, March 11th 2011 is a Friday.
The image above is of the purported launch date for the refresh, and the $1199 pricing figure shot is after the break.
Recently, reports emerged claiming that Apple’s supplies of the current MacBook Pro models were tightening up, and now we have received information that every MacBook Pro model’s stock is constrained at the moment, except the higher-end 13-inch model. We have also heard some chatter about February 9th (Wednesday) being the update day, but we cannot confirm this with any certainty.
Japanese site Macotakarta is also reporting that they have heard that MacBook Pro stock is low, and that reseller availability is now in the 2-3 week waiting range. We assume that Macotakara’s source is different than ours, as theirs is based on Japanese stock levels. Either way, the MacBook Pro is due for refresh, and multiple signs are pointing to this happening very soon.
Apple has been updating their iOS stores with new features lately and today, Apple has added the neat ‘Genius’ recommendations function to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch version of the iTunes Store. The iPhone/iPod touch version gets its own tab with the default placement being in the ‘more’ section, and the iPad version can be accessed by a new button in the ‘music’ iTunes Store tab. Let us know if you find this helpful in the mobile experience. (via TUAW)
FaceTime has long been seen as the iPad’s main glaring omission, and now you can partially solve this with a hack courtesy of “Intell.” The several step process is noted to be risky, but the end result (video above) is very cool and seems to work as advertised. The hack installs the iPod touch 4 FaceTime application on the iPad, with a full-screen, optimized user interface. This interface looks very similar to that of the FaceTime application on the iPod touch, but does leverage iPad-specific user interface elements, like the silver navigation bar at the top.
The calls, of course, will only work if you are connected to a WiFi network, and as shown in the video above, the quality seems relative to the FaceTime video quality you see on the iPhone, iPod touch, and Mac today. This quality of course is that of the person on the other end of the FaceTime video call. Although the iPad user will not be shown due to the lack of a camera, the audio still works and the mute button is present, too. This hacked version of FaceTime for iPad appears to be very neat, and we can’t wait to see Apple’s real implementation, soon, with the second-generation iPad. All the steps are pasted after the break.
One user managed to get his Verizon iPhone 4 today by visiting his nearby UPS package holding center. It looks like the Verizon version comes with a Verizon-tailored “getting started” guide and you can see a video of the user picking up his Verizon iPhone 4 after the break. Many readers have let us know that their devices are set for a Monday delivery, and those who have not pre-ordered can buy a phone in stores on February 10th.
It looks like some Best Buy stores have a few more 16 GB Verizon iPhone 4s on order for launch than the 32 GB variant. As you can see, a Best Buy store’s inventory is showing 100 16 GB models for launch and 80 for the 32 GB model. This number will likely stay relatively the same across the retail chain’s stores. Also, “On order” doesn’t necessarily mean they will be in stock.
Apple has updated the iPad’s App Store to include a new search filter feature. The new feature allows you to filter application searches by category, release date, customer ratings, price, and by device’s that support each respective application. It doesn’t look like the iPhone has received the feature yet, and due to screen size, it might never.
