Archive for August, 2010

Apple on Wednesday invited members of the media to its annual media-centric keynote, where it is expected to introduce new iPods and an updated Apple TV, set for Sept. 1 in San Francisco, Calif.

The event will be held next Wednesday and will start at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern, and will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Alluding to the music-themed nature of the event, the invitation includes an acoustic guitar with a sound hole in the shape of an Apple logo.

Recently we’ve talked about the rumors that Apple is planning to release a new iMac with multitouch display, which will run on iOS 4 over OS X to use sensory capabilities. It seems that we’ll finally see the touchscreen computer from Apple. A new interesting patent has just been spoken about, which shows the iMac with multitouch display called "Apple iMac Touch".

Now Apple says nothing about this device, yet it is only a patent, so we do not know exactly how much time it will need to start producing it.

The developers have recently tested Windows Phone 7. We've already seen how Windows Phone 7 tried to overcome iPhone 3GS that runs on iOS 4. Now Pocketnow offers a unique opportunity to check the web-browsing with Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7, comparing it with Nexus One, running on Android 2.2 Froyo and iPhone 4 on iOS 4.x.

According to Pocketnow, Windows Phone 7 has something to show your iPhone and Nexus One. But we should not draw hasty conclusions.

In America, you’d go in, sit at the counter, order your food from a waitress and get it delivered to you a few minutes later. In Japan, though, it is handled with what can seem to be an absurd level of detachment from your server: orders are placed through a touchscreen or ticket machine, where you pay for your food. That ticket is placed, without a word, upon the tray of someone working behind the counter, who later — and just as silently — brings you your food.

It was really interested, then, to see this iPad self-ordering system pop up on Japan Probe. Designed by Sharp Systems Products, it allows Japanese diners to order from a menu on their iPad, completely obviating the need for the aforementioned touchscreen ordering systems or ticketing machines. It’s a more feature rich implementation too: for example, you can pinch to make a picture of your food bigger, or drill down for ingredients.

According to iSuppli, Apple will command 74.1% of the tablet market for 2010. And even though competitors will soon be launching a number of tablet devices seeking to compete against the iPad, Apple is predicted to maintain its leadership position with 70.4% of the market in 2011 and 61.7% in 2012. iSuppli last month predicted iPad sales of nearly 13 million this year, surging to over 50 million in 2012 for a total of nearly 100 million iPads sold by the end of that year.

Acer chairman JT Wang reportedly claimed that Apple's share of the tablet market will eventually stabilize at 20-30%. However, iSuppli observes that the most interesting competitor is likely to come from HP. But the potential iPad competitors exist in the form of HP, Dell and Lenovo’s upcoming tablets, iSuppli believes that none of them can seriously challenge Apple’s tablet from a solution perspective before 2011.

GumballTech blogger Brian has used the standard iPhone 4 keyboard to break the world texting record, according to a video posted on YouTube.

After reading yesterday about Melissa Thompson, a 27-year-old British woman who used a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone and its Swype keyboard to set a world record of 25.94 seconds, Brian decided to test his skill.

The official phrase you need to type is: "the razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human". Brian typed this phrase and started and stopped the timer himself in 21.8s. Both his and Thompson's time have yet to be confirmed by Guinness World Records.

Apple is holding talks with News Corp to fill their upcoming $99 Apple TV with $0.99TV Show rentals.

Viewers would be able to rent programs from News Corp.’s Fox for 48 hours, said the people, who declined to be identified because discussions aren’t public. CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co., where Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is a board member and the largest shareholder, also are in talks about joining the effort, the people say.

Apple’s previous plan to make a subscription TV service reportedly failed as media companies didn’t want to take risks with cable providers.

Facebook has released some statistics for its mobile application on different platforms, and the results are pretty interesting to look at. iPhone is right ahead with more than 104 mln active monthly users. BlackBerry goes second, with almost 60 mln, while Android is enjoying no more than 12 mln users. So, what do these numbers tell us? Last counted, there are more than 500 mln users of Facebook across the world, and it turns out that more than a third of them are using mobile applications. Quite an impressive figure!

The Japan Sumo Association is having trouble with the wrestlers and its managers. To put it simply, they don’t hear from them – either by fax or by phone! So, the sports body came up with a 21^st-century solution: iPads. The tablets will be distributed among 51 wrestling clubs in the country and they are expected to improve the communication speed. Maybe the 10-inch dimensions of the devices will be exactly right for these sportsmen, whose fingers are a little bit too large to use mobile phones comfortably?

It seems that Asian iPhone owners are in for an unpleasant surprise. A Chinese newspaper states that message boards have been hit with hundreds of messages reporting problems with the devices because of the humidity that affected the liquid indicators. Indeed, even US users seem to have this problem, with one class action suit filed earlier this year.

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iPhone and Android users will now be able to keep up to date with Google Finance web application that has just been made available for mobile devices.

The markets don’t stop when you leave your desk, so we’re bringing the markets to you. Our new design gives you a unified experience across desktop and Android or iPhone phones, offering nearly all the same features and functionality on both. You can easily access the new site when you do a Google search for stock tickers or company names on your mobile device, or when you tap the "Finance" tab on the Google mobile homepage.
Now no matter where you are, you can keep up with your portfolio, the latest market news, and the sectors you care about, with real time quotes and data -- all at a glance.

You can download the new Google Finance webapp from your device by visiting finance.google.com.

Paul Devine, the Apple supply manager charged with accepting kickbacks from overseas partners, allegedly had more than $150,000 in cash stashed in shoe boxes in his home when it was raided by federal agents. Moreover, the investigation had found “a significant number of overseas accounts and a significant amount of money”. The judge determined that Devine represents a potential flight risk if he is let out on bail before the foreign funds have been moved into the U.S.

Earlier this month, Devine was arrested and charged with wire fraud, kickbacks and money laundering. Prosecutors have alleged that the Apple global supply manager used his security clearance to provide confidential information to the hardware maker's suppliers. Apple's partners then allegedly used the information to negotiate favorable contracts with Apple, and, the prosecution says, paid kickbacks to Devine. Devine is accused of accepting more than a million dollars from Asian suppliers.

While on vacation, Vincent Hunter received an alert from his iCam iPhone app: Something had set off the motion detectors in his home. He used the app to access his security cameras, called 911, and helplessly watched a burglary unfold.

While Hunter's home security company had also contacted the authorities around the same time as he did, the man was still left watching two burglars leave his home before police officers arrived. There are no details about what was taken from the home and the burglars have not been caught.

The five dollar iCam iPhone app used by Hunter is somewhat similar to software you could install to monitor your security system while away from home, but there's something additionally frustrating seeming about pulling your iPhone out of your pocket to a devastating alert and watching the crime right there on the little screen.

Phillip Shoemaker, Apple's Director of Applications Technology for the App Store, is a former App Store developer himself who has a handful of applications, several of which fall into the category of low-brow fart and urination humor, still available for sale. Shoemaker's App Store development work was handled under the name GrayNoodle LLC. The game Animal Farts features various cartoon images of animals with their buttocks facing forward, giving users buttons to trigger "Fart," "Poot," "Drop" or "Wiz" sounds accompanied with animations illustrating said emissions.

According to an Apple spokeswoman, all of Shoemaker's applications had been approved prior to his employment with Apple. Apple's statement is apparently contradicted, however, by App Store data showing that three of his applications debuted in the App Store up to six weeks after Shoemaker had tweeted that he was working for Apple in early March 2009.

Apple could be planning to introduce touchscreens to the iMac by way of a hybrid interface, a recently discovered patent application suggests. The company notes that despite the usefulness of a touch slide off-screen interface, a mouse- and keyboard-based one is still better in some circumstances. To switch between the two, Apple proposes a design in which a computer's display would be upright for the mouse interface, but slanted down and back for touch.

To make the transition possible an iMac would need a flexible display stand, and a sensor to determine when to change. For the latter Apple proposes several options, such as an accelerometer, a rotation sensor in the stand, and/or a special touch sensor at the place people would want to grip the display. Past a certain input limit, a computer would automatically switch between interfaces.

Notably, elements of Mac OS X such as the Menu Bar, the Dock and the mouse cursor could be made to slide off-screen during the handover. Apple has not specified what the touch interface would be, but it could be iOS.