Apple

.

We’re in love with Guilherme Schasiepen’s iPhone 5 mockups (via MacMagazine.br).

More below:
Expand
Expanding
Close

This is my next runs this story based on unnamed sources who claim that come this Fall tablet fans will have a choice between iPad 2 and an-all new high-end iPad aimed at creative pros, apparently dubbed ‘iPad HD’:

Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well. As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the “iPad HD.” The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a “pro” device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture. This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.

As for Final Cut Pro/Aperture, it would perhaps explain why Apple made such a drastic change in its X product, but the extra pixels don’t exactly make a professional video editor.   A bigger screen could, however :D.

Overall, we love the idea of an iPad HD and all of the previous evidence points to it (below from the iS 5 SDK). But why wait until the Fall?  Perhaps the screens just weren’t ready yet at price points that made sense.  That is a lot of pixels to throw on a 9.7-inch display.

Also interesting:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Analytics company Localytics today published a report on the rise of the Verizon iPhone.  In the July month, it accounted for 32% of all iPhone 4s purchased (AT&T is still selling iPhone3GS, and has the US exclusive on the $49 iPhone).  That’s with AT&T’s 8-month head start.

It’s not all gravy for Verizon.  Localytics surmises that the biggest selling point to US users was the ‘unlimited’ data plans…which end today.

Why the recent uptick in Verizon adoption? One reason may be Verizon’s unlimited data plan, which they are scheduled to do away with on July 7th. AT&T officially discontinued its unlimited data plan in mid-2010, although existing customers were allowed to keep their plan as long as they remained AT&T customers. We’ll continue tracking the shift in iPhone 4 market share to see if Verizon loses momentum post-unlimited-data.

It will be interesting to see the split on iPhone 5 when all carriers (including Sprint T-Mobile and others?) are equally pitted against each other.
Expand
Expanding
Close

We were the first ones to report that Jailbreakme.com was live last night at about 2am ET.  That was about 20 hours ago.  Just a few minutes ago, @chpwn tweeted that they’d surpassed a million jailbreaks on Jailbreakme.com.  That’s a pretty impressive distribution vector.

Although there was some concern going in that Comex was rushed in this jailbreak, commenters seem to be impressed with the results.  The process couldn’t be easier as the below video shows.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Amazon today announced unlimited storage for music in its cloud drive.  The catch is you have to upgrade your overall Cloud storage (also includes Docs, Pictures, movies, etc) to the 20GB plan which is $20 per year.  Once you do that, you can upload “Unlimited” amounts of music and play it anywhere.  So, this appears to be taking on Spotify, Google and Apple’s iTunes Match (though each service is slightly different).

Speaking of Apple, the Amazon Cloud web experience is now also optimized for the iPad.  Full press release below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

.

The WSJ reports on the next generation iPhone due this fall:

According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.’s wireless baseband chips. The current iPhone 4 uses memory chips made by Samsung Electronics Co. and baseband chips from German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG, according to a report by market-research firm iSuppli Corp.

Verizon execs have already said the next iPhone will be a GSM/CDMA world phone – which means it is likely that it will use Qualcomm’s Gobi chips (As the current Verizon iPhone and iPad currently do).  Numerous reports have also said it will contain a 8megapixel camera – from Sony and other manufacturers.

There is some question about whether or not these devices will meet production deadlines, however…

Expand
Expanding
Close

Facebook is having an event tomorrow which many believe is a Skype tie in, which could lead to a Skype iPad app or a Facebook iPad app, or both! in one?!  That’s well and good, but  TechCrunch takes a look at some of the upcoming features of a bigger project that might also receive a mention tomorrow: Project Spartan.

It seems a bit sensationalized, but it comes off like this: Sometime in late July (soon!), Facebook will reveal a HTML5 platform with automatic Facebook logins using a new set of APIs which make a great iOS/Android social gaming platform.  Facebook has a few developers signed up already, Zynga is probably one of them.

Notes one developer:

Facebook wants a cut of the Apple’s mobile app market, that’s been clear this entire time. Perhaps it’s not war against Apple — maybe Apple is just going to ‘gift’ Facebook the share of their market (the HTML5 share) in exchange an alliance being formed whereby Apple get’s some exclusive access to Facebook’s 600 million-plus users and thereby cutting out Google (exclusive to some degree, Facebook is too open for it to be fully exclusive). In this theory, it’s not Facebook Spartans vs. Apple, it’s Facebook/Apple Spartans Vs Google.

The Spartans have been told to code specifically for the iOS flavors of Safari — both iPhone and iPad.

So, it sounds like Facebook is going to build a nice HTML5 platform (like Chrome) for social gaming. Hopefully one of the games is 300.

As noted by Fortune, Steve Jobs’ biography now has a more pleasant sounding name than its previous working title: iSteve: The Book of Jobs *cringe*

It’s got a new title.  But it isn’t the one that Amazon has listed above…
Expand
Expanding
Close

Today’s comScore report shows that a full third of all US phone users are using a Smartphone and that is heading toward a majority pretty quickly.  Perhaps that is why (with a little help from Verizon) Apple was the biggest gainer in the overall phone market in the Feb-May quarter.  LG was up just slightly while Apple stole marketshare from Motorla and RIM.

I think it is important to keep in mind that Apple’s original iPhone goal was to capture 1% of the total phone market in the first year of release.   They’ve done that many times over and now Apple is capturing over 1% of the total US phone market per quarter.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Why run a family pictures website, DNS or any other low CPU-use server on power-hungry Intel-based hardware when an AppleTV2 does the trick?  The folks at MacMinivault.com have set up a webpage on a AppleTV 2 (go ahead, try to take it down) jailbroken with httpd as an example of what can be served off of the little 6 watt, A4-powered dynamo.  Put 10 of these together and you’ll be using the same power as a single 60 Watt light bulb.

The Apple TV is running iOS 4.2.2 (obviously jailbroken) with lighttpd for a web server. You can see the webpage we set up by visiting atv.macminivault.com. We’ll keep an eye on the CPU load and watch the analytics to record how much traffic the Apple TV receives.

They say this won’t be a cost effective solution for their customers (8 GB of storage won’t cut it) but is a ‘fun experiment.’

What’s interesting is that Apple likely has an dual core A5-platform AppleTV coming out shortly which may push a little more into the Intel server space.  Perhaps more interesting is that the A5 chips could also make nifty little ChromeOS-busting terminals or even cheaper laptops.

If you want to create your own little AppleTV 2 server, they recommend the following:
Expand
Expanding
Close

Skype dropped a new Mac Client on us today, a day ahead of the Super “Awesome” Facebook announcement that is rumored to include Skype.  New features for the unpaid version include “super awesome” background video chatting control bar.  Pony up a few bucks and get yourself up to Windows level (they got a head start on Microsoft tactics!) with Group video conferencing that looks and acts nothing like Apple’s built in iChat group teleconferencing (this was in 5.1Beta as well).  Also, screen and document sharing.

The Windows version – just to make sure it is one step ahead of the Mac version – got Facebook integration with the 5.5 update.

If you aren’t still at the standard 2.8 like us, have a look at the tips and tricks to see if you’re a good update candidate (we’re staying put).

We were pretty stoked two weeks ago to see the iPad version demoed only to have Skype go silent on the product last week.  We’re thinking it might be happening at the Facebook introduction on Wednesday….about the same time as the Google Plus App hits.  Via TechCrunch
Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufdXy_NZjXc]

Apple packages an elegant little USB key with its MacBook Airs that allows you to restore Snow Leopard if your machine goes south.  But with many people upgrading to Lion, few will want to go through the process of downgrading to Snow Leopard and again to Lion if the machine goes bad.

Here is a way to upgrade your USB Key to Lion as well as your MacBook Air.

MacBenTosh has posted (thanks, Danny!) a video guide showing how to format the restore key into a drive that works like a normal 8GB rewritable Flash drive. To follow along with the instructions in the video you’ll need an instance of Windows running in a virtual machine, Boot Camp or a separate PC.  After restoring, the key will be shown as a 8GB drive.

From that point, Egg Freckles has posted a guide on how to create a Lion disc. Of course Lion will only be available from the App Store (or Dev site), but it’s nice to have a local, external installer.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Have you ever wanted to get your hands on an iPhone that Apple engineers have used for testing? If you’ve got 5 figures to blow on a non working phone, now’s your chance because an iPhone 4 prototype has shown up on Ebay. The listing comes from a user by the name of jtmaxo, who lists the device as ‘Apple iPhone 4 black APPLE GENUINE PROTOTYPE, GENUINE’. In the description the users states the device as a GSM iPhone labeled with the model number XXXXX FCC ID: BCGAXXXXX IC ID: 579C-AXXXXX.

Just like Gizmodo’s iPhone 4 prototype, the volume buttons are missing ‘+’ and ‘-‘ labels and storage information (XXGB) on the back of the device. Also, the seller says the device won’t activate through an AT&T SIM card plugged in through iTunes. Lastly, on the front of the device a ‘DF1692’ label is shown, which is thought of as a tracking code used by Apple. When the seller searched the serial number on Apple.com, it returned no results. So, where did the seller get this device?

(update: the prices keep fluctuating.  It was over $100,000 last night but somehow is down to $7K this morning.  Apple will likely pull this auction anyway.)

via This is my next

Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: October 26th: Seagate just released a firmware update

The Post PC age is upon us and we’ve now got new iOS devices in all shapes and sizes in our homes.  But getting and sharing media to all of these many devices starts to become a chore, especially when on the go.  One solution is moving media into an Internet-connected NAS or the (i)Cloud.

Unfortunately, pulling that data down to your iDevice when you are on the go, especially high quality video, can be an expensive burden on your wireless data plan.  Just a few movies can put you over your monthly data limit.  And that’s where you have a speedy Internet connection that can handle a full screen movie.  And what do you do when there is no signal (camping?) at all?

Seagate thinks they have a solution to this problem with their new $200 Goflex Satellite 500GB hard drive.  Read on for the full review:

Expand
Expanding
Close

In April, Apple originally filed a lawsuit against Samsung saying Samsung’s Galaxy Tab copied the iPhone and iPad. Soon after, Samsung filed a counter-patent suit against Apple and asked to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Seeing the unreleased devices was denied by a judge earlier this year. This week Samsung has dropped their counter-patent suit.

The suit was dropped on June 30th, but Samsung will continue to fight patents with an earlier counter-patent suit.  While Samsung dropped the suit in the U.S., it won’t affect other patent suits they have. Besides the U.S., Samsung has lawsuits against Apple in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the U.K.

Samsung’s spokesperson Nam Ki Yung told Bloomberg the counter-suit was dropped “to streamline the legal proceedings”. Nam also told Bloomberg, “Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYLSfeE0wI]

SupermanofSteel reports that as part of their new refresh of their lineups called “52”, DC will do “Day and Date digital” which means the same day that comics are available in the store, they will be on the iPad.  Double good news for digital comics fans.
Expand
Expanding
Close

As one might expect, the GM Seed of Lion looks like it is making the rounds in the Torrent sites.  This is interesting this time around because Apple is distributing the install via the App Store (for a very reasonable $30) which has tracking codes embedded in the download.  That means whoever leaked this is probably going to get in some trouble.  We’re assuming most people who choose to download this version will be doing so for the two week head start rather than trying to save $30.

Might be better to just plunk $99 down for a developer account?

Related articles

• Help: How to make a Lion Client into a Lion Server (9to5mac.com)
• Apple to ship OS X Lion on July 14th (9to5mac.com)
• Apple may surprise with June 14 launch of Mac OS X Lion (9to5mac.com)
• OS X Lion Golden Master seeded to developers ahead of July launch (9to5mac.com)
• Find my Mac likely launching with Mac OS X Lion (9to5mac.com)

A consortium including Apple Inc, Microsoft, EMC Corp, Sony, Ericsson, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion bought bankrupt telecommunications gear maker Nortel Networks Corp’s remaining portfolio of 6000 patents for $4.5 billion, in an auction that began early this week.

RIM reportedly paid $770 million, Ericsson paid $340 million.  It wasn’t immediately clear how much Apple paid.

Google had originally opened bidding with a $900 million bid.  The consortium of strange bedfellows will split up the portfolio based on the split of the purchase price.

The sale is subject to Canadian and U.S. court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11.  Full press release follows:

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve been hearing reports of minor – not severe – white MacBook constraints as early as last week. The white MacBooks are not even close to as constrained as the MacBook Air and the Mac mini – which is in fact constrained as well – but the process leading up to a product refresh is booting up. Now, we’ve discovered that Best Buy is marking the $999 white MacBooks as “backordered” in their systems.

This is the same system that currently marks the constrained Mac minis as “backordered,” as we reported two weeks ago. Looking deeper into BestBuy’s online store, the major Apple reseller is quoted new white MacBook shipments between July 15th and July 27th. We’re not saying that this backordered status means a refresh for the MacBook, as this can just be indicative of Apple loading OS X Lion – rumored to be launching in mid-July – on to the consumer notebooks. More after the break:

Expand
Expanding
Close

..

At this point, it seems pretty obvious that Google means business with the Google Plus platform. Besides all of the other areas Plus has engulfed, it looks like Google is heading into the gaming realm.  The above snippet was found in the Plus web page code

“have sent you invites and more from Google+ Games”

So now Google is taking on Microsoft’s Xbox and Apple’s Gamecenter? Perhaps Google might want to lower the barrier to entry.
Expand
Expanding
Close

As with just about any new Apple product release, iFixit has torn apart the Thunderbolt cable. Why a boring cable?  iFixit has revealed that the new Thunderbolt cable actually has active chips inside, making transfers  faster.

We found two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector, one on each side. They were flanked by other, much smaller chips that surely added to the cable’s cost: two chips labeled S6A 1JG on one side, and chips labeled 1102F SS8370 and 131 3S on the other. Of course, there were tons of little resistors (providing impedance as needed) all around the larger chips.

Thunderbolt’s release on MacBook Pros and iMacs should be followed by new Macs coming soon. Inside the cable chip housing below
Expand
Expanding
Close