9to5 Staff

Apple this week ramped up the hiring process for Engineers in its North Carolina Data Center.  Apple has posted ten new job descriptions for positions at the Data Center including:

• Data Center Maintenance Technician
• Data Center Electrical Technician
• Data Center Mechanical Technician
• Data Center Site Coordinator
• Data Center Site Services Technician
• Data Center Site Services Manager

Apple started the process of looking for its Data Center Chief Operating Engineer in January.  The position has yet to be filled.

Here’s a flyover of the data center from earlier this year.

We’re hearing as well as MacRumors that Best Buy Apple “Store-within-a-Store” locations (about half the over 1000 total locals) will carry the iPad at launch.  The iPads won’t initially be at Best Buy Mobile or regular Best Buy stores but they’ll likely pick up the device at some point later, perhaps when 3G is rolled out.

 Reports curiously indicate that the demo units encompass four separate SKUs, while Apple is launching only three Wi-Fi iPad models on April 3rd. The identity of the fourth model to be demoed is unknown, although it is possible that stores may be receiving a Wi-Fi + 3G model, scheduled for launch in late April, for demo purposes.

Steve Jobs previously emailed a concerned Apple customer that the iPads would be available at Apple Stores and Best Buys at launch.  Said Jobs:

“Initially at Apple Retail and online stores and Best Buy,”

For those who would want to tether their iPads/iPhones and use applications like Google Voice, Geohot has a little teaser this evening.

It isn’t clear if he’s used one of the recent iPhone Safari hacks to gain control of the device or if this is something else.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__TR86PLiHw&w=700&h=400]

Are we going to see iPads jailbroken at launch?  

 

Apple today updated Aperture to 3.0.2  to support iPad and fix some lingering problems from the previous releases.  Apple says 3.02 “Enables support for importing photos from iPad to the Aperture Library, as well as syncing of photos to iPad.”  

Interesting.  Why would you need to import photos from a device without a camera? Yes, the iPad has a camera attachment, but why wouldn’t you do that directly to your Mac?

Also, iMovie 8.06 updated as well.  Full release notes below:

Aperture 3.0.2 Release Notes

This update improves overall stability and fixes issues in a number of areas. The key areas addressed include:

iPhoto Library Import

Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to erroneously report the amount of hard drive space required to import an iPhoto Library.
Aperture now displays an estimate of the amount of free hard drive space needed to import an iPhoto Library.
Addresses memory management issues when importing large iPhoto libraries.
Rotation of iPhone photos is now preserved when importing from an iPhoto Library.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding when attempting to play a slideshow imported from an iPhoto Library.

Image Import

During import, Aperture now correctly reads image ratings, color labels, and GPS data stored in XMP sidecar files.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding if both the Auto-split projects and Auto-Stack options were used together during import.
Addresses an issue that could prevent the Import window from automatically opening when a memory card is mounted.
Aperture now provides correct options when importing hierarchical folders of photos into a library.

Library

The amount of free hard drive space required to upgrade an Aperture Library is now displayed if sufficient space is not available.
Fixes an issue that caused Aperture to overestimate the amount of free hard disk space needed to upgrade an Aperture 1.x or 2.x library.
Fixes an issue that caused thumbnails to take up more disk space than needed.
Addresses stability when importing an Aperture 2 library into an Aperture 3 library.
Addresses some performance issues when opening and closing libraries.

Export

Addresses an issue that prevented Library Albums from being exported properly as standalone libraries.
Fixes an issue that could cause the Email command to use an incorrect export preset when attaching photos to an email.
Canceling a library export now correctly moves the cancelled library to the Trash.
Color labels on non-image files, such as video and audio clips, are now preserved in the Finder when exporting versions.

Adjustments

Addresses issues with retouching 16-bit images.
Fixes an issue that caused the Straighten tool to work incorrectly on flipped images.
Fixes an issue that caused Aperture to quit unexpectedly when Curves was used on JPEGs with a custom printer profile.
Adjustment presets that include brushed adjustments are now correctly rendered when imported into another copy of Aperture.
Fixes a temporary slowdown or potential unexpected quit that could occur when canceling the Reprocess Masters command.
Images are now stacked in the correct order when using the “Create new version when making adjustments” option.
It is now possible to pause preview generation.
Preview generation for adjusted images is now faster.
Addresses an issue where using a large number of Spot and Patch adjustments could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly.

Printing

Fixes an issue that could cause custom print presets to be displayed in the wrong order in the print dialog.
Print presets now correctly retain printer choice, paper size, orientation, and other printer settings when saved.
Addresses an issue that prevented custom print presets from retaining color profile settings.
The Print dialog now correctly defaults to the last print preset that was used.
Settings such as Image Size, Rows and Columns, Resolution, and Rendering Intent are automatically remembered for next use when choosing Cancel in the Print window.
Addresses an issue that could prevent custom print presets from being saved.
Addresses an issue that prevented custom margins from being saved in print presets.
The Image Size pop-up menu now includes a 4 x 5 setting.

Trash

Fixes an issue that could result in a slowdown when emptying the Aperture Trash.
Fixes an issue that caused the progress indicator to display inaccurate data when emptying the Trash.

Faces

Fixes an issue that could cause a spinning wait cursor to appear when attempting to move snapshots on the Faces corkboard.
Fixes usability issues with auto-completion from Address Book when adding names to Faces.
Aperture now correctly remembers the state of the Faces and Photos buttons when matching photos in the Faces view.
Addresses an issue that slowed performance when using Confirm Faces.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when browsing rapidly in the Viewer with the Names overlay turned on.
Addresses a face correlation issue that could sometimes prevent Aperture from suggesting potential matches.

Places

Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to report an incorrect number of items when the Show Unplaced Images option was chosen In the Places view.
Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding when opening Places with a large number of locations assigned.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when importing a GPS log file.

Metadata

Addresses compatibility issues affecting XMP sidecar files exported with masters.
The Duplicate Preset command now correctly duplicates the data in all fields when duplicating a metadata preset.
Fixes an issue that could cause a spinning wait cursor to appear when creating or duplicating metadata presets.

Audio/Video

Fixes an issue that caused externally-edited video and audio clips to lose their original date/time stamp.

Books

Fixes an issue with saving changes to custom books when the custom theme is not present.

Search

Fixes an issue that could cause the built-in smart albums listed under the Library Albums to filter images incorrectly.
Search by the Flash EXIF field now returns correct results.
Addresses the reliability of searches for text containing special characters.

Flickr publishing

Fixes an issue that could prevent the Cancel button from working when setting up an export to Flickr.

Watermarking

Watermarks are now correctly saved as part of an export preset.
Watermarks now remain unscaled when the Scale Watermark box is left unchecked.

General

Addresses an issue that prevented View modes from being changed using keyboard shortcuts while in Full Screen view.
Restores the ability to navigate photos in the Viewer by scrolling. (Turn this option on in General Preferences).
Fixes an issue that caused the Query HUD to overlap t
he Filmstrip in Full Screen view.
Double-clicking on a project name in Projects view now displays the contents of the project.
Fixes an issue that could cause projects to be appear under the wrong year header when using Group by Year.
The name of
the version or master being processed is now displayed during face detection, export, and preview generation.
Resolves performance issues when using zoom in Viewer.

iPad Compatibility

Enables support for importing photos from iPad to the Aperture Library, as well as syncing of photos to iPad.

Readers have been reporting that their credit cards are being charged for iPads (not docks or cases yet).  That’s usually the first step in the delivery process.  Perhaps most interesting is that iPad 3G are already being processed as well.  Anyone else?

Thanks KCRoy.

PadGadget has found that iPad apps are starting to show up on the iTunes preview site (but not on the iTunes store or on iPhone/iPod touch).  That’s not a huge surprise since developers have been working on iPad apps for months and Apple started accepting and approving apps last week.  Kokatu says that ‘HD’ is the preferred nomenclature for iPad versions of iPhone games. 

The list so far: Ammoin HD, Azkend HD, Flight Control HD, Grind HD, HD Recovery, Labyrinth 2 HD, NBA Hotshot HD, Numba HD, Plants vs. Zombie HD, Sparkle HD, Worms HD

Via Macrumors

 

Update: Amazon took the iPad page down.  Bummer for those of us with gift cards.

Looks like Amazon will be carrying the iPad in pretty short order.   It isn’t available via Search yet but there is now a placeholder.

Interesting details including 4 reviews and only domestic shipping for those overseas who wanted to get in early: 

http://www.forbes.com/video/embed/embed.html?show=44&format=frame&height=496&width=336&video=fvn/tech/ipad-bigger-than-the-iphone&mode=render

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2lqpJlJn2k&w=700&h=400]

The Wall St. Journal today reviews some of the advertising deals that are accompanying  upcoming iPad magazine and newspaper publications out there.

Time magazine has signed up Unilever, Toyota Motor , Fidelity Investments and at least three others for marketing agreements priced at about $200,000 apiece for a single ad spot in each of the first eight issues of the magazine’s iPad edition, according to people familiar with the matter.

Conde Nast also has some big publishers lined up as do other publications including the Wall St. Journal.  iPad advertising looks to be creating an entirely new ad market; one with totally new “in-app” capabilities, yet without a hint of Adobe’s Flash.

The video above shows how one agency is trying to capitalize on iPad marketing.

You aren’t alone if you are annoyed by the narrators of that video.

AllThingsD yesterday did a profile of an interesting patent that was recently granted to a shadow LLC:

The patent is #7,679,604,