Archive for 2011

Some rumors claim that Apple is working to merge its iTunes application into its Safari browser later this year. As a result the company will create a single application for browsing web and media content. The move to merge Safari and iTunes into one software solution appears long in the works, which may arrive this fall at Apple's usual iPod special event. Оne reason for the push is to boost Safari's market share among Internet browsers, where Apple has yet to crack the 5% mark. Perhaps, Safari will be the only browser able to access iTunes, as iTunes is built into the browser itself. "Moving iTunes organizational side-bar into Safari isn't a monumental task" claimed a source, adding "Safari would skyrocket in use as a result of integrating the software titles together."

With the rumors of a 2048x1536 high resolution screen for the iPad 2, one question that has emerged is what graphics processing unit (GPU) can adequately power the device. AppleInsider claims that the new iPad and iPhone 5 will use a dual-core SGX543 GPU from Imagination Technologies. The company will not only be upgrading its video core, but also going to multiple cores. The most likely configuration of Apple's next custom chip is reportedly the SGX543MP2, which pairs two SGX543 cores to work as one, offering around four times the capability of the previous A4 in graphics and video tasks. We had previously revealed that the latest iOS 4.3 beta SDK had drivers for the new SGX543 GPU, so it should be no surprise that it is the most likely contender to be the next GPU for the iPad.

Google the new version of application called Google Places. It lets iPhones and iPads users to look for new places and review visited ones.

Google Places allows to look for locations and places nearby and mark visited places by posting individual ratings and reviews. There are default lists of places located nearby, but there is an option to customize this list by adding favorite places found with the help of Google Places. Google Places also provides “Hotspot” rating and review system in order to give an opportunity to rate favorite shop, restaurant or a night club via an iPhone.

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Research firm Asymco has published a new report that details the average number of apps that have been downloaded on every iOS device, including iPhone, iPod touch and iPad — but not the Apple TV. Asymco noticed that app downloads have been growing at a faster rate than song downloads from the iTunes Store in the past three years. By dividing the cumulative apps downloaded by the cumulative devices sold, Asymco noted each iOS device has downloaded 60 apps on average. In 2008, the apps were 10. At the end of his report, Asymco also concludes app consumption is increasing at a rate that will soon overtake PC software.

One parts supplier began selling the screen part for Apple's next-generation iPad from Globaldirectparts.com. The part listed is the "iPad 2 LCD Screen" which is "out of stock" but is listed for a price of $218.19. Since the website currently offers replacement screens for the original iPad for $63.35, the higher price of the so-called "iPad 2 screen" could possibly corroborate reports of a 2048x1536 resolution display on the second-generation tablet. Globaldirectparts.com is also selling an "OEM Apple iPad Vibrating Motor" for $9.99. No photo is provided, but it's a curious part since the iPad currently has no vibrating motor. It's possible this is simply a mislabeled iPhone part, but does raise the possibility of the feature making its way into the next iPad. The part may be evidence that Apple is working on vibrating alert functionality for the second-generation iPad.

New post on Consumer Reports' blog written by Mike Gikas and Paul Reynolds reveals that the company thinks Verizon iPhone 4 will have a short life as soon it will "be replaced by a newer, cooler version more quickly than is customary even for the die-young life expectancy of most smart phones."

It is true that Apple made the CDMA-enabled iPhone a mid-year carrier expansion, and most observers expect new iPhone 5 will not replace its less than 6-month old predecessor as at launch it will support only GSM / UMTS technologies. However, Apple's rivals do not propose any product cycles anyway and release new handsets every few months, so the position of Consumer Reports looks pretty inconsistent.

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Three new iPad offerings appeared on Best Buy's site. All three models described as "APPLE COMPUTER INC. - APPLE IPAD SKU WIFI" and availability listed as "coming soon". Two of the models carry price tags of $599.99, while the third comes in at $699.99. No other information beyond the scant details included on the product pages is available, and thus it is unclear if these listings are intended to reflect second-generation iPad models, some sort of internal SKU shift on existing models, or perhaps simply an error on Best Buy's part.

There's been a lot of talk about a "Retina" display for the next generation iPad. Based on Apple's marketing efforts for the original "Retina" display, it would suggest a DPI (dots per inch) greater than 300 to exceed the abilities of the human eye. Images accidentally left in iBooks 1.1 and 1.2 reveal that the iPad 2's resolution is likely double that of the current model. As shown above, the App's bookmark icon included versions for the iPad, the iPhone and the iPhone Retina Display (iPhonex2). It, however, also included one additional version labeled "iPadx2". Sure enough, this is exactly double the resolution version of the iPad icon and is distinct from the other versions. The most likely explanation for this added graphic is plans for a double-resolution iPad. Apple has since removed this extra artwork in subsequent versions of iBooks. The current iPad uses a 1024x768 resolution. Doubling this resolution would result in a 2048x1536 resolution at a 260 DPI.

On November 16, 2010 The Beatles came to iTunes. Two weeks after the initial release, Apple announced 2 million songs had been sold.  And recently Apple has informed The Loop that the iTunes Store exceeded 5 millions of Beatles songs and 1 million Beatles albums sold worldwide. "Abbey Road" is the current best-selling Beatles album in the U.S., while "Here Comes the Sun" is the currently best-selling Beatles song. The Beatles reportedly earn between 18 to 22.5 cents per track sold on iTunes. With five million individual tracks sold so far, that equates to a cool $900,000 to $1.125 million profit for The Beatles for just seven weeks of sales.

This week James Choi, who is a marketing strategy and planning team director at LG, have an interesting interview to Pocket-lint, where he expressed his disappointment about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7:

"From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected".

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Jonny Evans from ComputerWorld has recently published another article where he suggests what features can reveal iOS 4.3 about the forthcoming Mac OS X Lion. We gained all his ideas into this short list:

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The iPhone Dev-Team has announced via Twitter that they will release new unlock only after release of iOS 4.2.5 or 4.3. It is a little bit surprising and of course disappointing for many but overall in the best interests of the community.

The statement claims: “Official iPhone unlock statement: no unlock will be released until after 4.2.5 or official 4.3 (whichever is last) is out.”

All those Apple products’ users who can’t imagine their lives without usage of such devices as iPad and iPhone and enjoy reading get a unique opportunity to gain an access to the rarest world’s books and masterpieces of literature thanks to the newest application “Treasures” which appeared due to the collaboration of the British Library and Apple developers.

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At the latest CES, InteraXon (a Canadian company) has announced and demonstrated a headset that can connect to iPhones and iPads and allows you to control apps and games with your mind. Technically, this custom EEG headset pairs with a thought-controlling framework that has been added to the popular iPad game Zen Bound 2 game, letting users control the wooden shapes on screen with their brainwaves. Now the real question is: are you willing to put a headset on to control stuff with your brain? Doesn’t it look a little bit, well, weird?

New driver has been found in the first beta SDK for iOS 4.3, which allows system to support Imagination Technologies' POWERVR SGX543 GPU. All the iOS devices starting from iPhone 3GS sport POWERVR SGX535 graphics processor that appears to be a predecessor of SGX543.

POWERVR SGX543 was introduced in January 2009 and only now has reached mobile devices. The benefits of the SGX543 were described by MacRumors:

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