Seth Weintraub

Kevin Kenney has spent most of the last 14 years building carbon fiber bicycles as the President and CEO at Kestral Bicycles. This month, he became an Senior Composites Engineer at Apple after consulting for the past few years.

What does Apple want with an expert in carbon fiber and other composite applications?   iBikes?  No.

Kenney has been working indirectly with Apple for years.  Apple filed a Carbon fiber patent with his name on it in 2009 (image of back panel below).

Apple is likely looking at materials besides aluminum, stainless steel and glass to build their iOS devices and Macs.

Imagine a carbon fiber iPhone or iPad which weighs significantly less than the current models, yet stays as strong.  There have been rumors of carbon fiber Apple products previously, but they proved wrong, or at least premature.

Kenny’s skill set is below and notably he’s not just an materials engineer with a background in aerospace but he’s also versed in management and supply chain logistics.

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http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

If you are a public school student, it is hard to beat Maine when it comes to getting Apple products.  Every middle school student got a MacBook starting in 2009 (and their 1-to-1 program started in 2001).  Now Kindergartners are getting iPad 2s.  Seems like the Apple thing is working out for them.

Where are the iPhones for High Schoolers?
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As part of a pre-NAB panel discussion, Mark Raudonis, head of post production at Bunim/Murray Productions (who says he attended Apple’s secret Final Cut Pro preview) says that Final Cut Pro will have support for Thunderbolt, iPad, File Based Workflows and will address competition, specifically Adobe and Avid…

Hit 3 minutes in the video below for some “additional metaphors” on Final Cut Pro which seems due either at NAB or around the show time:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/22057617 w=670&h=377]

via Macrumors.

You’ll recall that we brought you another first hand account last week and were the first to report last week that the NAB program was being shuffled around in order to make way for an Apple demo of Final Cut Pro.

I remember spec’ing out an Apple XRAID a few years ago which I filled with 14 400GB hard drives. At the time, it was the biggest and fastest volume I’d ever built. After putting those drives in RAID 5, I had around 2.4TBs per side. If memory serves me correctly, that rig cost around $15,000.

That was then.

This week, Western Digital sent us 6TB in its latest MyBook Studio Edition II for review.  It retails for about $549.  Obviously, this isn’t a professional rig like XRAIDs and the like, but if you want hard drive that is:

1. Super energy efficient
2. Quiet
3. Moderately speedy
4. Easy to setup
5. Around $500

…this external drive may be what you are after.  Read on for the details.

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These are likely to be all over the Internet tomorrow but we’re posting them for discussion.  It seems that some believe the new iPod touch will have a capacitative home button. This shot looks pretty real when closely examined.

After looking at these, losing the button doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.  Still, fake. (click twice for full size).  More below:

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We continue to get reports of the new Final Cut Pro suite and thought we’d share this one from a notable major network video editor:

I am definitely expecting the new FCP to be previewed [at NAB]. This is a really cheap, yet effective way to launch this product. 99% of the room will be very pro-Apple people. The buzz from this could be huge. I met with one of the guys who was at that secret meeting in Cupertino and he told me that Apple will ship it this Spring and that “it is to editing what Henry Ford was to Cars.” He also said that “It was more focused on maximizing multicore hardware utilization.” Other vague notes were that it was typical of Apple to make software “for the masses and not just for the ‘pros.'” In my opinion, It seems that Apple is not necessarily trying to please Editors with this iteration of the software so much as it has made some revolutionary new product that will please any Creative. Also, he hinted to some sort of iOS-feeling interface. Finally, as with Avid, there will probably be some element of “cloud” or “remote” editing abilities.

He also noted that Kevin Smith’s talk for Avid had been shuffled around, possibly to make room for an Apple Keynote. Thanks MK!
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Apple’s Discussion Forums are filling up with Verizon iPad 2 owners who are having issues connecting to Verizon’s 3G network.  The issue forces users to have to restart if they want to connect to 3G after disconnecting.  Mobilized got Apple to make a statement on the matter:

“We are aware that a small number of iPad 2 customers have experienced connectivity issues with the Verizon 3G network and we are investigating it,” the company said in a statement to Mobilized. A Verizon representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Verizon and AT&T iPad 2s have different chipsets as was discovered last month.  AT&T’s uses the Infineon chipset while Verizon’s uses a new Gobi chipset from Qualcomm.

A fix will likely occur in an upcoming software update.

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An 8lb. bowling ball dropped 3 feet onto this iPad 1.  That is concrete below.

Seems pretty impressive.  Not sure a Smart Cover could take that.

Available May 1 from G-form.com
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The latest venue for distribution of non-existant iPad 2s is Toys R Us who have been distributing training materials ahead of launch.  See if you can guess the answer to the question below:

Full page manual below:
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“For the price of a movie”, the holding company that bears the name of the classic gaming company, offers 100 classic 2600 and arcade hits for $14.99 or various “Game packs for $.99/ea.  Pong is free with the download.  The App is universal, though you aren’t going to see much improvement with 8-bit graphics on bigger screens.

Atari’s Greatest Hits brings the best of retro gaming to iOS with 100 Classic Atari Games. This suite brings you the hottest Arcade and 2600 titles from Atari. For those who love the classic gaming experience this handheld breakthrough is sure to guarantee hours of fun.

What we feature is:
• 18 Classic Atari Arcade Games including PONG
• 92 Atari 2600 Games
• Bluetooth Mutliplayer for head to head play for titles such as Pong, Warlords, and more!
• Original Cabinet and Box Art

If you want the full experience, why not bump yourself up with a Joystick or an iCade iPad enclosure from ThinkGeek.

Full description and screenshots below:
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Nice piece from San Jose Mercury News:

Not far from the massive glass cylinder and spiral staircase that lead to Apple’s always crowded underground store in the heart of Shanghai’s gleaming financial center of high rises and high-end stores is a shuttered Best Buy. Home Depot has retreated as well, closing a number of outlets as its successful American strategy sputtered in this emerging economic giant. Mattel recently abandoned its flagship Barbie store in this metropolis of 19 million people.

Apple is bucking that trend.
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Type ‘Tilt’ into the search to see the effect. (Would have been cooler if it used the accelerometer).  (Doesn’t work on iPad btw and searching for “askew” will also trigger it.
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Here’s a video from June 2010:

Her app was of course rejected by Apple. You’ll recall that Apple just yesterday took this idea and ran with it with their iAds Gallery. Fair?
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USA Today is reporting that the FBI has taken an interest in the recent spate of high profile Apple Store robberies:

The FBI is assisting several law enforcement agencies in an ongoing investigation of more than a dozen Apple Store robberies in states from Connecticut to Virginia, said Special Agent J.J. Klaver in Philadelphia.

This follows news this week of a fatality during an armed smash and grab in San Diego and a Pittsburgh Apple Store that has been broken into three times.

It appears that USA Today got some industry experts to comment as well…

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We have some interesting news to share with you this evening. The Apple Store went down at Midnight Eastern time. Since then, our retail contact went into Apple’s system and the only change noticed was the removal of the White iPhone SKU.

Yes, removal.

What does this mean?  Perhaps nothing.  Perhaps Apple is readying the new White iPhone with a new SKU?  OR perhaps it has been kiboshed until iPhone 5 time.  We’ll update when the store goes live but feel free to chime in below.

Update: It’s back up.

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We’ve been hearing all kinds of Chatter that the next version of Final Cut Pro will debut in Vegas at NAB next week.  Thing is, we hear this every year and Apple hasn’t really done a NAB properly in awhile.  That’s OK, we’ll take that we can get.

Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, cancelling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.

Philip Bloom just confirmed with me that Canon has canceled his appearance at the Supermeet. Canon was told last night that Apple has demanded ALL “lecturn” or stage time exclusively. Some sponsors who were not using presenters may continue to sponsor the Vegas event, but none of them will be presenting on the stage. I can’t imagine any news that would warrant this kind of “take-over” other than to announce and demonstrate the next full version of Final Cut Pro and possibly an entirely newly designed FCS4.

(UPDATE: Avid confirmed that Supermeet (Michael Horton) told them last night that their sponsorship had been cancelled. According to Avid, “Apple doesn’t want anyone to have stage time but them.”)

Who’s up for Vegas?
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Future iOS adapters may work with USB 3 and DisplayPort/Thunderbolt if we read Patently Apple‘s latest finding right.  It isn’t immediately clear if this will be backward compatible with today’s 30-pin connectors but it would make sense.  Schematic below:

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Just a little tidbit from the great people at Ted Talks. Their updated iPad app now supports Airplay, meaning that you can now share the excellent Ted Talks videos on the HDTV.

BIG Update: The CNN App is now also Airplay compatible so you can…wait for it…now watch CNN on your TV.  Mind=Blown.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIcJHqYpktA&w=640&h=390]

Fring has always been a pioneer in the mobile video conferencing space and this app looks to expand that.

While, I’ll go ahead and admit that I rarely use video conferencing with anyone besides the wife and kid, this will have its adherants. Fring via SAI

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1106196796/the-gopano-micro-a-lens-for-capturing-360-video-on/widget/video.html

The big brains at Carnegie Mellon University have created a Kickstarter project to fund a little gadget that, with their app, turns your iPhone into a little Google Streetview Car. Sign up here.

This is no April Fool’s Day Joke or Onion article….  Today, Apple released the iAd gallery app which is just a bunch of ads in a gallery.  Yep, that’s it.

Great ads. On-demand. In your pocket.

The iAd Gallery is a celebration of advertising, featuring iAd campaigns from some of the world’s best brands and their advertising agencies. The iAd Gallery gives you easy access to a selection of the fun and informative ads that have run in some of your favorite apps. Use the Browse feature to discover ads you haven’t seen, or to find those you want to see again. Even lets you tag your favorites to a Loved section that’s all your own.

Features:

• Updated regularly to include a selection of the latest ads running on the iAd Network
• Explore by spinning the wheel of iAd banners, or search by advertiser, category or ad feature
• Learn about the featured ads, including the advertising agencies behind them
• Easily access your favorite ads anytime by placing them in your Loved section
• Tap into the More section to find additional details about the iAd Network

We’re not sure if Advertisers are paying per impression in this app (which is, again, just ads) but it would be interesting if they are.    More screenies below.
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