Archive for September, 2010

Steve Jobs sticks to his style, and so Apple’s Special Event revealed to us some quite interesting figures. First of all, the impressive number of all iOS devices sold to this day – it’s 120,000,000. Astonishingly, it took Apple 3 years (from June’07 to June’10) to reach 100,000,000, and the last 20,000,000 came in just 3 months. Jobs also boasted that Apple were activating 230,000 new devices per day.

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Apple’s website new preview page promises the release of iOS 4.2. in near future. Here’s what it says:

Look for iOS 4.2 coming in November for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.1

The footnote reads that the new platform will not be compatible with all the models, so it’s likely that iPod touch G1 and iPhone 2G will miss it out.

Early in the morning Apple has updated its entire line of iPods for fall 2010, thereby providing iPod touch with the same characteristics as iPhone 4 has. iPod nano will get multi-touch screen, and iPod shuffle - buttons.

Apple has already released new commercials: one for iPod nano and another one for iPod touch. These commercials show major innovations for iPod that were introduced during its development.
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Steve Jobs might announce something yesterday he wasn’t supposed to. At yesterday’s event, Jobs indicated that iOS 4.2 would include all of the features included in versions 4.0 and 4.1 for the iPhone. When the iPad’s iOS is updated this November to version 4.2 it will be the first significant upgrade for the device since it debuted last spring.

Would that include HDR photography? If so, this would mean that at some point the iPad will be getting a camera. Perhaps Jobs was simply lost in the moment and meant nothing with his comment. But let’s be honest: Would anyone be surprised to hear that the iPad is getting a camera?

The next version of iTunes includes Ping, a social music discovery tool that allows users to follow friends and artists, helping customers to discover and share new music. The product is based on discovery, allowing users to see what their friends are listening to and what concerts they're going to. Users can choose to "follow" artists, as well as their friends, and iTunes will populate a customized top 10 list that represents what their friends are downloading. Users can also see concerts that are coming near them, and inform their friends that they will be attending.

iTunes 10 will also ship with a new logo, which Jobs joked reflects the fact that by next Spring, Apple is expected to surpass all CD sales in the U.S. The new iTunes logo dispenses of the CD that was previously featured, and only includes a musical note.

The 82mb file can be downloaded at apple.com/itunes/download/

Finally, we’ve got an official Twitter client for the iPad! It seems to be the most complete version of Twitter client for such devices. Its main characteristics can be found on the official Twitter website.

Panes: When you click on the Tweet, the panel on the right side opens. Depending on the content of the Tweet, you'll see video, photo, news, or even a Tweet.

Media: When you click on the video link or open the website with embedded video, you can watch the video in the text. You can also click on video to watch it in full screen mode.

Gestures: You can click on the Tweet and quickly view information about the author to leave a response or retweet.

No need to register: You don’t have to register to start using Twitter for iPad. You can also search for the latest news and enjoy watching it. Register at any time to create your own timetable and start tweeting.

Twitter for the iPad can easily be found in the App Store. Use the link below.

Get Twitter for iPad here [link iTunes]

Apple hosted their media event today and announced a number of new products and updates:

• Apple announces all new iPod models:

1. iPod Shuffle with the new VoiceOver button on top, which allows users to hear the name of the currently playing song and to switch between songs, playlists or Genius Mixes- the iTunes feature
2. iPod Nano with multi-touch display and without Click Wheel, with built-in FM radio and new feature "Shake to Shuffle," giving music lovers the ability to shake their iPod Nano to shuffle to a new song in their music library
3. Thinner iPod Touch with Retina Display, forward-facing camera and Apple's A4 chip

• Apple introduces updated apple TV
• Apple releases iTunes 10 with 'Ping' Social Networking and Open/Minimize/Close buttons are vertically oriented
• Apple announces pending release of 4.1 and 4.2 preview
• The iPod Classic is still for sale but with no changes
• The new iPod Touch's back camera takes still photos at a disappointingly low 960x720 resolution
• The impressive game demo by Epic Games is now available on the App Store as a free download
• The new iPod nano has no camera and apparently can't play video any longer

Don't have an approved Apple device to watch today's keynote? Here is a live video from Apple's event on September 1st for everyone.

The quality is not very good, but still a good solution for PC users:

Here are the latest news from Apple PR - they will live broadcast their event today:

Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

For people whose machines don’t match Apple’s requirements there will be a lot of re-streaming the event on Ustream and Justin.tv using Flash.

The other workaround is to use Open Source Video Player VLC and enter Apple's livestream URL in the streaming portion:

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Come on, lets face it: there are a lot of bad apps available in the App Store. Some would say crappy apps! Even with Apple’s strict app approval process, if a developer creates something stupid, it can still find its way into the App Store.

Now, there is a website that highlights the best of the worst apps available. Created by Josh Helfferich (who hosts the popular website, iPad Apps That Don’t Suck), Crapptastic “celebrates the hilarity that is the iTunes App Store.”

The site just debuted, so there isn’t much there. Still, with sites called “Horse Trailer World” and “Listen to the pig” already included, I can’t wait to see what is added soon!

Intel will increase its presence in the mobile phone market with the announced $1.4 billion acquisition of the wireless division of Infineon, a significant component supplier for Apple's iPhone.

Intel and Infineon announced  that they had agreed to the deal, in which Intel will own the wireless business of Germany's Infineon Technologies in exchange for $1.4 billion in cash. The deal pertains to a range of wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi, 3G, WiMAX and LTE. Infineon makes the baseband chip found in the iPhone, and the company has had a strong partnership with Apple, supplying chipsets for Apple's smartphone since it was first released in 2007.

A new lawsuit takes aim at the accelerometer- and gyroscope-powered abilities of Apple's iPhone 4, alleging that the interactive, three-dimensional input methods are in violation of a U.S. patent. The lawsuit, filed this week by Triton Tech of Texas, names both Apple and Nintendo as defendants. Triton is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 5,181,181, entitled "Computer Apparatus Input Device for Three-Dimensional Information."

That patent describes a handheld device that includes multiple accelerometers and angular rate sensors for detecting positioning and motion. By interpreting acceleration, velocity and relative position of the device, it can allow users to interact with a computer or other device with six degrees of motion in a three-dimensional space.

Triton's lawsuit only specifically singles out the iPhone 4 from Apple as an infringing device, though it implies that other devices could be in violation. Apple's iPod touch and iPad also include accelerometers that are used for input.

Apple’s Special Event kicks off tomorrow, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. This annual media event usually focuses on the iPod line, but recent rumors suggest that there might be other topics covered as well. Let’s see a brief summary of what we might expect tomorrow.

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A new Apple iTunes survey reveals quite interesting information – among other iPad features, it suggest the ability of “instantly” watching iTunes Store video – something that is not currently available.

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