Seth Weintraub

“See Flash Run” at 30 secs…cross posted from 9to5google.com
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Update: We’ve heard this from an Apple Store employee and have an updated post:

Apple has given all the stores a list of serial numbers to scan, if it\’s a match we were told to set aside and ship back to Apple, these are only for Verizon ipads. This was to be done on Monday and continue to scan all shipments thru June 11. I had over one hundred to send back.

We’ve gotten numerous tips over the past few hours that Verizon iPads being shipped from China are being being returned to Apple mid-shipment.  It isn’t certain why they are being returned but they appear to all be Verizon iPads, engraved and shipped via FedEX.

This isn’t the first issue Apple has had with Verizon iPads.  Earlier this year, Discussion forums went ablaze with complaints that were later fixed.

One reader writes:

Apple may be having problems with Verizon iPad 2.  I was supposed to receive my ipad2 64gb today but all of a sudden fedex sent it back to apple and said that apple requested it\’s return.  Apple\’s customer care seems to be unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the problem.  I went on the discussion boards on apple.com and there are a number of people discussing the same thing and all posters so far have all ordered Verizon ipad2\’s.

Apple’s Discussion forums are also starting to fill up with similar complaints:

Let us know if you find anything out. I ordered mine early may and yesterday I was thrilled to see it actually say out for delivery! Then I got the delivery exception. Called fedex and heard the same thing you did. Called Apple and they had no clue why just that it would be delivered tomorrow(today). Called fedex again and they assured me that the package was already on it’s way back to it’s origin. Now this morning my tracking number reads undeliverable, return to sender. So, my 1-2 weeks turned into 3 to ship and it some how took fedex 2 weeks to get it to my city and now this. I wonder how long it will be before I actually see my iPad.

Update: We’ve just received this report from a reader:

I was in the apple store in Lakeside Mall (LA) and I saw two people coming from back of the store (exiting the stock room) and leaving the store with a cart full of boxes. The boxes had \”verizon 64gb\” and \”verizon 32gb\” written on the outside of them.  I assumed they were iPads. This may relate to your story of Apple recalling Verizon iPads. -Rory

Another:
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From 9to5toys.com:

Best Buy takes 15% off all Apple iTunes Gift Cards. With free shipping, that’s the best deal we could find on these cards and the first time we’ve seen them discounted in several months. After the discount, a $15 gift card costs $12.75, a $50 gift card costs $42.50, and a $100 gift card costs $85, among others. They’re good for both music/video and app purchases.

Obviously, with a Lion purchase coming up, it might be a good time to stockpile iTunes credit.
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Yet another wonderful little feature of iOS 5:  Now when you are sharing music (with your car audio for example) over Bluetooth, your iOS device transfers the album, track and artist data as well as the digital audio to the receiver for display

Audio equipment, like the Prius above, that can display this information now will.  Excellent. Video below!

Thanks Tony and your Prius!
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Jonny Ive, the design mastermind behind all of Apple’s decade plus of hit products, often gives some credit for being inspired by Dieter Rams.

Now, it appears that Ive has ventured into the writing world by penning the foreword to Rams’ latest book called As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams

This comprehensive monograph covers both Rams’ life and his work, as well as his ideas on good design, which continue to inspire designers and consumers today. A personal foreword by Jonathan Ive evokes the influence that Rams has had on his own work and, by extention, the objects with which so many of us share our everyday lives.

Rams conversely has stated that he has profound respect for the work Ive has done at Apple.  In Gary Hustwit’s 2009 documentary film Objectified, Rams states that Apple is the only company designing products according to Rams’ ten principles to “good design”. (video below)

The book is set to be released in two days and is available from Amazon for $56 in the US or Phaiden in the UK.

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Now would be a bad time to be a developer of an iPhone panoramic camera app. It appears that Apple will be allowing users to take panoramic photos in the photo app, if the code we’ve discovered below proves to make it into the final iOS 5 release. We’re not sure if/how to make it work or if it makes panoramas stitching together photos or making a movie. IF you’ve figured out how to get it to work, were all ears.

Thanks SonnyD!
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The winners were announced at WWDC yesterday:

iPhone Developer Showcase

Related articles

• Is Apple recalling Verizon iPad 2s? (9to5mac.com)
• Official: Steve Jobs to unveil iCloud, iOS 5, and Lion June 6 at WWDC (9to5mac.com)
• HHI Snap-On Hard Back Shell Case for iPad 2 w/ $2 credit for $9 + $3 s&h (9to5toys.com)
• WWDC 2011: Apple unveils iMessage, am iChat-like new messaging service for iOS 5 devices (9to5mac.com)
• This year’s Apple Design Awards is only for apps distributed via App Store and Mac App Store (9to5mac.com)

The Mac/PC is no longer the hub of your digital world according to Steve Jobs and while the traditional computer was demoted to just a  ‘device’, iOS devices did get some promotions at WWDC this week as well.

One notable addition is that you can set up an Apple Airport or Time Capsule from an iOS 5 device, like in the screenshots above.

Let’s just say this one more time: No Mac Needed.

Thanks Clay!
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We’ve been hearing that FaceTime will work over 3G in iOS 5 but it will be up to carriers to allow it (like Tethering or VoIP apps). A reader sent in this screenshot (above) which seems to confirm that Apple plans on enabling FaceTime for those carriers that allow it.

Carriers, especially in the Middle East, have been able to get Apple to block FaceTime use, even though it was Wifi-only.

We were originally able to use FaceTime over 3G using a jailbreak last year (video below) and the quality wasn’t bad at all over AT&T 3G.  We’ll see which carriers decide to implement it.  Hopefully, there isn’t an additional cost component.

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The video editors have had their way with WWDC 2011 and have compressed the good bits down to just two minutes.  Here’s the show for those in an extreme rush:

Got more time? Check out the full keynote.
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Everyone’s favorite iPad insurance provider Square Trade decided to waste a few perfectly good tablets (well one is) to drive home the message: Dropping glass screens on cement will break them.

Conveniently, Square Trade just happens to be in the business of insuring iPads and other tablets (Shocking, we know).
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Looking at the graph above it really feels like Apple is taking huge leaps in growth while the rest of the industry is happy to be taking baby steps.  iSuppli today says that with the help of the iPad, Apple passed Samsung and HP in 2010 to become the largest consumer of semiconductors in the world.  While 2010 is relatively close still, 2011 will have Apple pulling away from the pack.

Apple in 2010 bought $17.5 billion worth of semiconductors, a 79.6 percent increase from $9.7 billion in 2009. This represented the highest rate of increase among the world’s Top 10 OEM semiconductor buyers, allowing Apple to rise up two positions to take the No. 1 rank in 2010. Apple in 2009 was the third-largest semiconductor purchaser, behind Hewlett-Packard Co. of the United States and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. of South Korea; it was sixth in 2008.

NAND Flash for iOS devices was a big contributor to Apple’s rise.

“Apple’s surge to leadership in semiconductor spending in 2010 was driven by the overwhelming success of its wireless products, namely the iPhone and the iPad,” said Wenlie Ye, Analyst for IHS. “These products consume enormous quantities of NAND flash memory, which is also found in the Apple iPod. Because of this, Apple in 2010 was the world’s No. 1 purchaser of NAND flash.”Apple is likely to continue increasing its semiconductor spending during the coming years at an above-average pace, allowing the company to extend its lead over Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and other OEMs in 2011 and beyond. In 2011 Apple’s semiconductor spending is expected to exceed that of Hewlett-Packard by $7.5 billion, up from $2.4 billion in 2010.

Via iClarified
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From  9to5Toys.com

This isn’t a joke – these are the real renderings that Steve Jobs showed the council

You think the WWDC is the biggest thing on Steve Jobs’ agenda this week?  Maybe not.  He gave his presentation for the use of the 150 acres that Apple bought from HP earlier this year to the Cupertino City Council today.  In a world: Unbelievable.

Apple’s plan is for 12,000 people in one building.  As a comparison, the Pentagon is about 20,000.

Jobs called the new building “a spaceship” and said Apple will use its experience in building retail store masterpieces to construct this “architectural landmark”.  Parking underneath, the building would perhaps be used for events like the WWDC – Jobs mentioned that it would have a large auditorium and a single cafeteria that could seat 3,000 at a time.

Jobs says he wants to double the trees on the site and put up an apricot orchard, just like where he grew up in the Valley.  Jobs also said, “There is not a straight piece of glass in this building, it’s all curved. We used our experience making retail buildings all over the world now, and we know how to make the biggest pieces of glass in the world for architectural use. And, we want to make the glass specifically for this building here. We can make it curve all the way around the building… It’s pretty cool.”

He wants to generate his own power using natural gas and other greener and more efficient fuels and use the grid as backup.  They plan to break ground next year and to move in by 2015.

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One interesting feature of iOS 5 that we’ve been tracking since yesterday is that users have been reporting the above ‘unsecured call’ warning. While it isn’t in any of the documentation we’ve seen, it appears that Apple is warning users of the possibility that their phone calls can be eavesdropped on.

It likely warning of the possibility of a GSM IMSI Catcher basestation which can intercept unecrypted calls.  Wikipedia notes that unecrypted call detection isn’t new:

there are a few mobile phones that show a small symbol on the display, e.g. an exclamation point, if encryption is not used. Another point is the calling number. Since the network access is handled with the SIM/USIM of the IMSI-catcher, the receiver cannot see the number of the calling party. Of course, this also implicates that the tapped calls are not listed in the itemized bill.

Video of a DEFCON talk on IMSI catcher below:

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Before we even start, obviously this is something that isn’t covered by warranty and may destroy your phone.  Once you go to iOS 5, you cant go back. APPLE WILL LIKELY FIX THIS IN AN UPCOMING iOS 5 UPDATE AND YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO USE YOUR DEVICE (until iOS 5 final is released or a developer adds your phone to his or her device list).

Gizmodo posts a video on how to activate an iPhone on iOS without having your device ID provisioned by a developer/Apple.  The exploit uses a combination of Voiceover and the pull down notifications to activate the phone.  The user that found this exploit says the device continues to work after restarts (so you won’t need to activate it every time you restart).  The steps are below:

1. Download the iOS 5 IPSW file from the web (it’s easy and readily available. Just Google it and torrent it down).
2. Update your iPhone using iTunes. To do this, connect your iPhone to your computer, click on the Check for Update button with theOption (Mac) or Shift (PC) key pressed. Select the iOS 5 IPSW file from the place you downloaded it to.
3. Wait until it upgrades. A new activation screen will appear.

Activate iOS 5

1. Triple click the home button. This will activate the Voice Over.
2. Triple click the home button and Emergency Call will appear.
3. Click on Emergency Call and, while it’s switching, swipe with your three fingers down.
4. The Notification Center will appear!
5. Click on the Weather widget. The Weather app will load.
6. Click on the home button to exit to the iPhone’s springboard.

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TUAW notes that inside the USB device profiles of iOS 5 are profiles for two never before seen devices called “iPad3,1” and “iPad3,2.”  Obviosuly Apple is going to be making more iPads in the future and devices often show up in these profiles many months before they are delivered.  However, there was some speculation earlier this year that an enhanced iPad 2 or iPad 3 with a Retina display would be released in time for the holidays.

Most analysts currently estimate that the next version of the iPad will hit at the beginning of next year so.

Interestingly, TUAW notes that there are no new iPod touches listed.  Touches usually are released in the Fall, but with no new iPhone hardware announced or released at WWDC, Apple’s traditional hardware release schedule has been put in question.  
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Apple updated iBooks to 1.3 today for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.  Most notable is the read-aloud feature included in select children’s books from the iBookstore.

The read-aloud feature uses a real narrator to read the book to you, and in some books, it will even highlight the words as you read along.

Initially, it isn’t certain whether or not the narrator will be a (Nuance?) Text to speech voice or if the audio is included by the developers.

The new functionality isn’t just for children’s books. Enhanced books can now automatically play audio or video included with the book.

Apple is now going beyond the other eBookstores offering innovation and functionality that differentiates books into the realm of apps.  Apple now offers Books directly in iTunes as part of the 10.3 update yesterday as well.

The 1.3 update also offers some bugfixes and enhancements from previous versions. More below:
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We first discovered Find My Mac back in February and discovered some more clues in April but now the iOS security feature looks to be ready for primetime in Mac OSX Lion.  9to5mac reader Drew gives us a full walkthrough of the “Find My Mac” process.

Setting it up is pretty straightforward as you can see above.  Interestingly, when Find My Mac is enabled, Apple lets “Guest” users use Safari and nothing else on the machine.  That is a trick to help the Mac figure out where it is (IP address) and let you connect to it (below)…
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Here’s a good video of some of the small things that iPhone 3GS users will be missing. Overall, the speed seems to be pretty good and the experience is largely the same as the iPhone 4.
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It wasn’t talked about much but it is an often requested feature (and might have made it into a few jailbreak apps if I am not mistaken): The iPhone’s LED flash will now light up on incoming calls and alerts.  Obviously, only if you choose.

It is good to see Apple working their way through these often requested and jailbroken type features.

Thanks Mime454!
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