9to5 Staff

When the original iPad debuted last April, lengthy shipping delays indicated high initial demand for the device. Today’s news that the online Apple Store already has a 2-3 week shipping estimate on iPad 2 is a tell-tale sign of it quite possibly outselling its predecessor at launch. The original iPad shipments were similarly delayed to 2-3 weeks at launch, as noted by the iPad Jailbreak site. This time around, however, iPad 2 benefits from a much larger distribution footprint, with both WiFi and 3G units going on sale simultaneously in the US at Apple, Verizon and AT&T stores, in addition to Best Buy, Target and authorized Apple resellers.

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British media magnate and entrepreneur Richard Branson heaped praise on Steve Jobs and his consumer electronics powerhouse Apple, which he says is his favorite brand. Contemplating about a theoretical merger between Virgin and Apple, he said it would be a great fit. As if that weren’t crazy enough,  in a stroke of inspiration the UK billionaire calls Apple a “brilliant global company” that he admires the most. We have a video clip to prove it all right after the break.

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Apple has been the leader in miniaturization since the original iPod’s debut, which marked their entry into the ultra-portable gadget market. Fast forward ten years later and we have iPad 2 and iPhone 4 that are just 8.8 and 9.3 millimeter thick, respectively. Matter of fact, iPad 2 is actually thinner than your shiny iPhone 4. Even though Apple has come a long way in a short while with such ultra-portable devices, they might hit a  roadblock soon, which is your regular 3.5 millimeter audio jack. Needles to say, there’s a patent for that.

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Just in time for the iPad 2 launch today, first triple-A iPad games have received timely updates designed to take advantage of the gizmo’s advertised nine times graphics performance increase. Enhanced versions of both medieval sword fighting Infinity Blade by Chair and Electronic Arts’ Dead Space for iPad just went live on the App Store, proudly advertising prettier and more complex graphics made possible by the A5 chip inside iPad 2.

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In addition to a few big features, yesterday’s release of iOS 4.3 brought several nice-to-haves such as password reentry for in-app purchases and the ability to comment on songs or like them directly in iPad’s built-in iPod application (no, not “like” as in “Facebook like”). The feature requires you to sign up for an account with Ping, Apple’s social network for music. Furthermore, it appears to work only with songs purchased through the iTunes Store, reports MacStories.net.

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Forbes released their annual list of the world’s billionaires this week, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs was ranked at number 110 with a net worth $8.3 billion.  In 2010, Jobs was ranked number 136 with $5.5 billion to his name so he’s doing pretty well.

Still, however, most of Jobs’ fortune comes from his shares of Disney, as he owns approximately $4.4 billion in stock.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is ranked at number 2 with a net worth $56 billion behind Mexican communications tycoon Carlos Slim, while 26 year old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shot up the list and landed in spot number 52 with a net worth of $13.5 billion (over $5 billion more than Jobs).

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Smart parents needn’t worry anymore about in-app purchases in iOS games, they only need to update to iOS 4.3. You’ve probably heard about horror stories involving kids draining their parent’s bank accounts unintentionally because they were lured into buying stuff inside games without even realizing it.  Smurf Villiage is #7 ranked in gross earnings in the App Store and has been seen as one of the biggest offenders.

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The debate about Flash on iOS devices rarely makes headlines these days, but it’s far from being over. You can see it in an increasing number of apps from third-parties that aim to solve this nasty issue once and for all. While the vast majority of solutions only tackle Flash videos, only a few iOS apps are capable of rendering other content types delivered through Flash, like games and interactive apps.

Enter iSwifter, a new iPad app that claims to stream any Flash content.

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Based on historic milestones concerning the App Store and rival Android Market, a publication has guestimated that Google’s app bazaar will overtake Apple’s mobile application market “in the next few months,” at least when it comes to the number of apps available. Even though this may eventually come to be, the sheer number of apps means little in this game and here’s why.
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A February ChangeWave survey on future demand for tablet devices bodes well for Apple’s iPad, even though over a hundred rival devices are coming its way. The research firm surveyed 3,091 consumers in February – before Apple announced iPad 2 – in an effort to discover their future tablet buying habits, which is usually a tell-tale sign of the popularity of competing devices in the marketplace.

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Apple is set to open a new high-profile retail store in Germany by the end of March. A series of leaked work-in-progress photos showing both interior and exterior reveal that a two-floor store will occupy a large space, suggesting that Apple plans to carry the full product lineup sold in their other big retail stores.  (inside shots below)

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The new St. Patrick’s Day update to the blockbuster puzzler has gone live today for iOS and Android devices, with Palm and Nokia following soon. It is bound to spoil you with an entirely new level pack containing brand spanking new puzzles to solve, bonus content and the unmistakable, charming humor that turned Angry Birds into such a high-grossing entertainment franchise (video below). Also, Angry Birds Rio is coming later this month.

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It appears that Apple is toying with a novel idea calling for small retail stores that can be built quickly nearby high-trafficked shows and conference locations. The company would literally lease the spot for a couple of weeks to sell its gadgets to showgoers. More importantly, such trial runs also enable Apple to test sales performance for an eventual permanent store in the future. More on that after the break.

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Why is it that Apple’s otherwise excellent Safari browser seems to be more prone to vulnerabilities than rival offerings from Microsoft, Google and Mozilla? Ever since security whiz Charlie Miller in 2008 broke into the MacBook Air in two minutes through Safari, the browser has been the subject of intense criticism for its various security weaknesses. Well, Safari just got pwned again at yesterday’s HP TippingPoint-sponsored hacking challenge at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

This time, the bragging rights belong to the French security firm Vupen which won a cool $15,000 and a MacBook Air for beating its perks in pwning Apple’s browser. It took the team just a few seconds to exploit an unpatched Safari vulnerability. “We pwned Apple Safari on Mac OS X (x64) at pwn2own in 5 seconds,” they tweeted.

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Apple’s new dual-core, 1GHz A5 chip will be making it’s debut in the iPad 2 in just a few days, and, as advertised in the keynote by Steve Jobs, the new chip will handle 1080p content with ease.  The new iPad outputs HD display via an HDMI adapter and cable.  So will another Apple device.

The current Apple TV runs Apple’s soon-to-be outdated A4 chip, which only handles 720p content, one of the device’s only weaknesses.  When the Apple TV undergoes an update later this year, most likely in September, we’ll most likely see it pack Apple’s new A5 chip, which will handle 1080p video with ease.

It will be interesting to see if AirPlay can handle 1080P as well.
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We have been informed that Apple are no longer shipping TechTool Deluxe CDs with the AppleCare boxes anymore. The move fits in well with Apple’s move to the Cloud for software distribution and perhaps to become more environmentally friendly (admit it, you just threw those CDs out anyway).

It is only a matter of time before Apple stops selling AppleCare in boxes altogether.

MacGasm also noted this yesterday.
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Apple’s upcoming iOS refresh will have a lot of surprises but one thing is almost certain. Apple will upgrade its native maps application, voice control integration, and cloud features. Google’s Android operating system has been churning out more and more innovative updates in these areas and now has a mature native mapping framework that does turn-by-turn-satellite imagery, 3D, etc. Android even has some fantastic voice navigation software to top off the package.  They are rumored to be working on (and even have shown off) iTunes in the cloud as well.

There isn’t much else that puts Android over Apple so eliminating these strengths is a core mission for Apple in iOS 5.  Over the past few years, Apple has been at work creating a superior maps application, a true voice navigation system, and new cloud features. This year, with iOS 5, Apple will put their purchases to use.

First is maps. Apple purchased a company called PlaceBase in 2008 to create their own maps application without the use of Google’s backend. This would not only give Apple even more control of their operating system (which they obviously love) but would allow them to issue updates more frequently. For example, the look and feature set of the Google Maps application on the iPhone has gone virtually unchanged since the first iPhone.

Next is voice navigation. Besides the report from the well-informed Wall Street Journal about voice navigation in the next iPhone, Apple bought a company recently called Siri. Siri built a technology that couples accurate voice recognition with powerful search tools. Apple has also been looking for people to work on “Google-voice like voice navigation” for iOS. Apple even has a rudimentary Voice Control application in iOS, but it’s not that great. Apple has had foundation for powerful voice navigation since the iPhone 3GS and now with the proper tools they are working on something great. Full-fledged voice navigation in iOS 5.

Finally, Apple purchased Lala mostly for the talent but that talent was geared towards building a Cloud locker for music.  We know Google is working on a similar iTunes in the sky so getting it right is important.

These are three areas we’re likely to see major innovation in iOS 5, but obviously there will be much, much more.

Update: Woops! this was a store update 2 weeks ago, not 4.3. Sorry about that

A cool new feature that is now in 4.3 is the ability for the App Store to check your account for applications that aren’t yet installed, but have been bought in the past. The App Store will now show “INSTALLED” rather than the app’s dollar value and then displaying the message “You have already purchased this item. To download it again for free, select OK.”

iOS 4.2.1 previously let you see purchased items in searches.

Pretty handy!

This feature appears to be exclusive to the iPad iOS only. iPhone 4.3 still exhibits the previous behavior.

iOS 4.3 Gold Master was released yesterday to developers. 
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COMPUTERWORLD: Angelheaded hipsters, cease your burning, cease your pining for your ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, iPad 2.0 is coming and where v.1 was magical, v. 2 could be poetry, maybe, just believe.

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iPads may be about to take a seat in UK government, with the House of Lords administration committee recommending that iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices are allowed to be used in the Lords chamber and grand committee.
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[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWTxaAj5w-4&fs=1&hl=en_US]

You like violent bunny rabbits, right, right? Want to watch a violent rabbit create a new definition for homicidal? Then do keep an eye on the unfolding drama between the legitimate makers of open source violent rabbit game, Lugaru HD, and the pirate coder who has also introduced an app called Lugaru via the Mac App Store — but using the same code.
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