Here is an interesting ‘footnote’ to this story on former GE CEO Jack Welch leaving Fortune Magazine, quitting over his harsh anti-Obama jobs Tweet coverage:
Apparently, the 20-year CEO and Chairman of GE conducts business on his iPad. So, there’s another notch in the “iPad is only for consumption” coffin.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Stacksocial is offering a bundle of Mac productivity apps valued at $1,209 for only $50. Each of the 11 apps were handpicked by the Stacksocial staff and include apps to help your eBay business, edit PDF files, be more efficient within Mac Mail, and so much more. The Mac is already one of the most productive personal computers on the market and with these apps you will get even more done. The deal is valid for only another four days, so act now. The full list of apps is as follows:
Here are some more iPad mini mockups: this time, we are getting a very close look at these models supposedly based on the real deal. The recently decommissioned Apple YouTube app shows us we are still looking at the same mockups we have seen before—just much closer. Sonny Dickson also posted alleged leaked photos of the iPad Mini. Check it out below:
Zagg, a well-respected iOS device case and accessories maker, unveiled its “iPad Mini Screen Protectors” this weekend. We have seen no shortage of iPad mini cases from third-party manufacturers; however, with the possible exception of these cases from Devicewear, no established/reputable Apple accessories maker has announced iPad mini products
Apple is expected to announce the iPad mini at an event later this month with the actual launch of products expected to come shortly after, perhaps in the November timeframe.
Zagg does not offer any iPad mini mockups, but it does offer this:
The iPad Mini is another amazing Apple product, and ZAGG is here to help you protect that product. The iPad Mini screen protectors by ZAGG will keep your Mini new and clean.
Two website screenshots are below (Thanks, Alex&Ross!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a23w1Wm7XJs
This bloke found a 20-month-old watching Barney on an iPhone and apparently thought it would be better in his pocket.
“He’s followed me into that shop; to think he has targeted my daughter is disgusting. “Everyone is absolutely disgusted. Her dad was really angry and upset.”
The robbery happened in Ormskirk, Lancs, when Danielle took her daughter into Hype clothes store at around midday on 22nd September.
Police believe the thief may have been with a female accomplice and followed the mother and daughter in after spotting the toddler holding the smartphone outside.
Cops are now appealing for anyone who recognises the man to get in touch.
He was wearing glasses, had longish straight greying dark hair and was wearing a light jacket with dark inner hood and light-coloured trousers.
West Lancashire inspector Andy Willis said: “This is a despicable offence where it appears that the suspect has deliberately targeted a child knowing the crime would be relatively easy to commit.
“I would urge anyone with any information to contact PC 659 Holdsworth on 101 and ask for Lancashire Police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
Also, maybe keep a better eye on your kid (/iOS devices).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7SjvLceXgU&feature=plcp
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the service he started in his Harvard dorm room roughly eight years ago now has over 1 billion monthly users (or over one-seventh of the world’s population).
“Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life,” wrote Zuckerberg. “I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.”
The … video above was made for the occasion. Apple is obviously a huge partner with Facebook due to deep integration on both iOS 6 and Mountain Lion, and Zuckerberg talked with Matt Laurer on the “Today Show” about his relationship and admiration for the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs:
Zuckerberg also mentioned that current Apple CEO Tim Cook sent him an iPhone 5 and most people actually access Facebook on the mobile web rather than an app.
More big numbers, including 1.13 trillion likes, 140.3 billion friend connections, 219 billion photo uploads, 62.6 million songs played, 600 million mobile users, 17 billion location-tagged posts, were revealed in the data sheet (DOCX).
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via
[tweet https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/253062511077765120]
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Japanese blog Macotakara claims its sources indicate iPad Mini production has begun in the far Western country of Brazil by China-based Foxconn. This comes coincidentally within hours of the rumored iPad mini invite/announcement/launch date news.
One interesting note: The sometimes-rumored backside mic port (note above, right) does not appear on these iPad minis, according to the report. Perhaps the absence indicates a cheaper version and a more expensive version with more bells and whistles. Alternatively, maybe these are the next Google Nexus 7s.
[tweet https://twitter.com/horwitz/statuses/252849410579509249]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=afOhPspYC6M]
If you are considering purchasing an iPhone 4S to save some money versus getting an iPhone 5, the video above shows why the extra $100 is so well spent.
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From 9to5Toys.com:
Amazon has the Transcend 64GB Jetflash Retractable USB Flash Drive for $29.99 with free shipping.. That’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen on a 64GB flash drive from a reputable brand/store. The drive reads 19 MByte/s and writes 7 MByte/s and ships in Amazon frustration-free packaging. These deals don’t usually last long.
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From 9toToys.com:
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Update: MacMall has it for $748.99 with free shipping and the current 4GB USB 3 version for $948.99
Today only, Woot! has the base model 2011 MacBook Air new in box for $759.99+$5 shipping and tax where applicable (Apple charges roughly the same for a refurbished unit). That’s the lowest price we’ve seen for this MacBook Air that was replaced at WWDC in June.
Bonus: Get this Transcend 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $29.99 with free shipping at Amazon.
Specs include:
| Processor | 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 |
| L3 Cache | 3MB shared |
| Memory | 2GB of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 4GB |
| Hard drive | 64GB flash storage1 |
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory2 |
| Ports | Thunderbolt port, two USB 2.0 ports |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, Omnidirectional microphone, headphone port, support for Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic |
| Wireless | 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking; IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible; Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology3 |
| Size and weight | Height: 0.11-0.68 inch (0.3-1.7 cm) Width: 11.8 inches (30 cm) Depth: 7.59 inches (19.2 cm) Weight: 2.38 pounds (1.08 kg)4 |
“Wow, that was fast.” With MacBook Air, you’ll find yourself saying that a lot. Because flash storage is up to two times faster than a conventional hard drive,5 everything you do is more responsive and immediate — starting up, browsing a large photo library, launching applications, and opening files, for instance. When you combine the speed of flash storage with a fast dual-core processor and power-efficient graphics, your entire MacBook Air experience feels turbocharged. And flash storage doesn’t have any moving parts, which means it’s more reliable and quiet. Lightning fast, durable, silent — qualities that make sense in a notebook tasked with keeping up with you.
The breakthrough I/O technology pioneered on MacBook Pro and iMac now comes to MacBook Air, letting you connect multiple high-performance devices — such as external hard drives — through a single port. With two 10-Gbps data channels, Thunderbolt lets you transfer data at rates up to 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Thunderbolt technology gives MacBook Air capabilities it’s never had before. Like attaching FireWire peripherals or connecting to Ethernet networks at gigabit speeds — two big gains from one tiny port.6
Since space-saving flash storage leaves room for a bigger battery, you can devote more time to the things you enjoy most. Things like browsing the web, editing photos, and watching videos. Get up to 5 hours of battery life on a single charge on the 11-inch model. Put MacBook Air to sleep, and it enters standby mode to conserve battery life for up to 30 days.7 When you come back to your MacBook Air and open it up, it’s on in an instant.
With the Mac App Store, getting the apps you want on your Mac has never been easier. No more boxes, no more discs, no more time-consuming installation. Click once to download and install any app on your Mac. But if an app you need isn’t available from the Mac App Store, you can use DVD or CD Sharing. This convenient feature of OS X lets you wirelessly “borrow” the optical drive of a nearby Mac or PC. So you can install applications from a DVD or CD and have full access to an optical drive without having to carry one around.
As incredibly compact as MacBook Air is, it still manages to fit a full-size keyboard that makes typing as natural as it is comfortable. And now the keyboard is backlit, so you can type with ease in even the dimmest light. A built-in ambient light sensor detects changes in lighting conditions and adjusts the display and keyboard brightness automatically. From a seat in a sunny café to a seat on a cross-country red-eye, you’ll always have the perfect lighting for any environment.
[ooyala code=”JxZmUxNjoylzrgDJtDjZX7Tao-xLN5se”]
As Apple fans from 22 countries are waiting in lines for limited quantities of the iPhone 5, some folks in the Middle East were offered up the opportunity to buy a 24-carat gold-plated version of Apple’s iconic device for a slight premium.
Just remember: Scratching is normal for any Gold surface; so do not try anything funny. [Via Bloomberg]
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is making his way around Asia, and he expanded on remarks made yesterday in Tokyo at the Korean launch of the Nexus 7 today.
Schmidt said Apple “is actually a very good partner. Our two companies are literally talking all the time about everything.” However, he added, “With respect to Apple patents, the best thing we can tell there are plenty of prior arts and I don’t want to go beyond that…”
In relation to Apple’s attempts to block competing Android phones with patents, Schmidt said:
“Literally patent wars prevent choice, prevent innovation and I think that is very bad. We are obviously working through that and trying to make sure we stay on the right side of these issues. So ultimately Google stands for innovation as opposed to patent wars,” …
“I think one of the worst things that happened in the last few years has been the belief that somehow there are so many patents in the mobile phone world, an estimated 200,000 patent that are overlapping and complicated and so forth, that one vendor can stop the sale of another vendor’s phones or devices,” he added.
Schmidt said he would talk to strategic allies on his visit, including Samsung, and he complemented South Korea’s adoption of smartphone technology:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlsahuZ_4oM
RIM Speedwagon says:
We are going to keep loving developers at Research In Motion, all the way to BlackBerry 10 and beyond. Watch our leadership team for developer relations bring back the band: Alec Saunders, VP Developer Relations & Ecosystem, Chris Smith, VP Application Platform & Tools, and Martyn Mallick, VP Global Alliances & Business. Thank you to those devs who are working hard, and for those jumping on board every day.
[tweet https://twitter.com/rossspeed/status/250632398352556035]
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This IndiGogo project looks fantastic, but it is not yet in production. Check out 9to5Mac’s full iPhone 5 case roundup.
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Ars put Parallels 8 against VMware Fusion this week and found there is not much of a contest between the two virtualization powerhouses. Parallels 8 out-gunned VMware across the board (as previous benchmarks have shown) performance-wise and adds full support for Retina displays and dictation among other features.
Neither Parallels Desktop 8 or VMWare Fusion 5 are loaded to the gills with new features, so the PD8 update from version 7 is only a must-have if you are looking for Windows 8 or retina MacBook support in Windows 7 or 8. If you need retina support, this is your best option since Parallels did the extra work and made it a better retina experience than in VMWare Fusion 5. The Mountain Lion dictation and experimental DirectX 10 support show that, while Parallels tends to have more frequent paid updates and a higher price-tag, they try to earn the extra value with well thought out features and engineering. Apart from the bugs I saw in Mountain Lion 8, I think Parallels Desktop 8 earns that extra cost with its solid performance, far superior Linux OpenGL support, and existing feature set. But if your needs are more big-business-oriented, VMWare Fusion 5 Pro might be more your thing.
VMware Fusion might fit better into cross-platform installations or for folks with legacy VMware images.
Parallels 8 is available for download or trial here for $79. VMware starts at $49.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-m8-isv-g8
Thanks Ian Brillantes
T-Mobile announced Seattle as its first iPhone-compatible 3G/4G network today at the GigaOm Mobilize conference. The 42MBps HSPA+ network will officially go live Monday and will roll out to other cities including Seattle, Washington, DC, and the New York metro area. It will also cover a ‘material’ part of T-Mobile’s U.S. coverage by the end of the year.
Why would you want to ride on T-Mobile’s network? As you can see above, the iPhone 5 uses 42Mb HSPA+ radios. So, you can get some pretty mean speeds (and even the older iPhones can still ride on the 14.4 networks). T-Mobile’s tests of unlocked iPhone 4S devices running over 4G (HSPA+) on its 1900 band have recorded 70 percent faster average download speeds than iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network.
Even on EDGE, the T-Mobile pre-paid plans are the best in the business. The $30 a month unlimited text/data plan with 100 minutes of talk is about the least-expensive plan you can find for an unlocked iPhone. Virgin offers the same.
Speaking of unlocking, we have a contest coming this weekend. Stay tuned!
[tweet https://twitter.com/starbucks/status/249202870891728896]
It was somewhat strange that Starbucks’ Passbook was not live when iOS 6 launched, because it was demoed at WWDC. So, when can you get your caffeine jolt on Passbook? By the end of the month, says the official Twitter account.
For developers who wish to submit their taller or wider apps to the App Store, Apple now requires a big screenshot of the app be uploaded as well. iPhone 5 apps without a new screenshot will not be reviewed until one is uploaded.
From 9to5Toys.com:
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StackSocial has another solid bundle of 9 apps but this time ‘you name your own price’ with 10% going to the charity of your choice (EFF, CharityWater or Stand up to Cancer). StackSocial is also giving away a PANDORA ONE (Ad-Free Pro Version) FOR LIFE for FREE to 1 lucky winner.
The apps together are valued at $340 and are listed below:
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Lightning cables are arriving at readers’ doorsteps today at least three days ahead of any iOS devices that can utilize them. So, what to do with them? Let’s crowdsource a top 10 list.
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From 9to5Toys.com:
Amazon just launched pre-order pages for the new iPod Touch, Nanos and Shuffles. They will ship probably right after Apple starts with sales tax in only some states.
Meanwhile. Best Buy is having a MacBook Sale this weekend with up to $200 off MacBooks. The new Airs with 4GB of RAM start out at $949 and many 13″ Airs/Pros are $100 off, which are the lowest prices we could find.
