Archive for March 11th, 2010

Another cool stuff was released by the Jailbreak Collective. It is a set of  iCon Magnets for your refrigerator (or any magnet surface). The authors say these are the icons for the old-school tasks where the usual iPhone apps are coming up short.

The price for 18 magnets is $13 plus shipping. It is available for purchase here.

Forbes ranked Steve Jobs the 136th Richest Man in the World. He has a net worth of $5.5 billion and shares his ranking with 5 other rich men.

Carlos Slim Helu tops the list with a net worth of $53.5 billion. More information here.

9to5mac reports that the latest iPhone 3.2 Beta 4 SDK has the new gestures folder. And there are two new types of commands (3Tap.plist and LongPress.plist), that are certainly not implemented in the iPhone SDK 3.1.

Apple will probably allow developers to use these new capabilities in the next version of the iPhone OS. We might even see these next month in the shipping version of the iPad.

In a week after the story about the lawsuit Oppenheimer analyst Yal Reiner wrote a research note, where it is said that Apple started warning Motorola and HTC in as early as January 2009. The Cupertino's company was not so happy to see that rivals' new products look like iPhone (or at least use the same concepts).

Apple COO Tim Cook even commented on this situation:

"Apple will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal".

The words were presumably about Samsung, LG and Nokia (Palm is not mentioned as its sales numbers are not so considerable).

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Developers have found references to multitasking in iPhone OS SDK files. The below mention of a "multitasking dialog box" is just one example:

Actually many different Apple's built-in applications already multitask. For example, phone.app, iPod.app, Safari.app, Mail.app, etc. so theoretically, the dialog box in this case could refer to current functionality.

Designer Antonio De Rosa, the author of a beautiful iPhone 4G concept, offers us his new creation iPhone Pro. Here is a video demonstration and a full image gallery:

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3MSjwUrxT0

HP confirmed that their slate PC can run Adobe flash and Air applications and emphasized it with a little bit provocative notes in their new ads:

• "Complete Internet - including Flash".
• "Access the full web and not jut part of it!"

The company representatives also ambiguously said:

"With this slate product, you're getting a full Web browsing experience in the palm of your hand. No watered-down Internet, no sacrifices."

For more information watch the new video ads above and below.

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Chinese companies are producing iPad clones that will have Windows 7 OS pre-installed on it. Clone makers are interested in putting it on sale as soon as possible as there is still no information about whether Apple will ship iPad to China or not.

Some Chinese stores have already started taking pre-orders for the new Apple devices. They hope to import device from those of other countries where it will be officially on sale.

Apple recently released iPad/iPhone OS 3.2 Beta 4 to developers. Let's see what's new:

1. Application "Photos" has been improved. Here is text from official changelog:

"Launching the Photos application under the iPad Simulator will initially show three tabs: Photos, Albums, and Camera. The Camera tab represents photos available via the Camera Connection Kit for iPad, and is not relevant for the Simulator. The Camera tab will disappear after a few seconds. "

Apple actually specified what we had seen in 3.2 beta 3. The tab Camera is for the Camera Connection Kit, and does not indicate any front camera on the iPad.

The fonts have been also improved and there are some new Gestures added for images.

2. The function Add Bookmark in Safari browser works now (previously only allowed to link to home).

3. When you press the button twice on the lockscreen the iPod controls appear, just like on the iPhone:

4. With the iPad simulator is open, pressing "cmd + shift + space bar" will appear a list of languages. By pressing the space bar you can change language:

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Few days ago Apple filed 4 patents about methods of cooling its devices. Company's products have never been known for the problems of overheating but we can definitely assume that new versions will be more power hungry and thereafter more heat consumable in the future.

This is a list of new patents:

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Using Flow Sensors”.

The technology is about using sensors that determine air velocity in a device to adjust the fan speeds and computing power.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Through User Interfaces”.

The patent describes using input/output ports to increase airflow through a device.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Using Conductive Hinge Assemblies”.

The talk is about using notebook screen's hinges as heat exchangers.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices using Thermoelectric Cooling Components”.

The document explains using Peltier Effect for active components cooling.