Archive for May, 2012
Apple accidentally reveals iCloud.com banner notifications
Users who visited the iCloud.com website on Tuesday could find a test of a new banner notification feature that was mistakenly made public, revealing a forthcoming feature for the service. An iOS-style notification was at the top of a browser and looked like:
"Default Title for English," the title read, followed by "English - This is test message description."
To the right of the notification was an 'X,' allowing users to close the message from their browser. The test message could not be selected and it did not link anywhere.
Apple to launch new iPad in Brazil, 29 other countries this weekend
Portuguese-language website G1 discovered that Apple announced the May 11 launch on its official Brazilian iPad page. Apple's new iPad will launch in a total of 30 new countries this weekend, with the largest among them Brazil. Most launches will occur this Friday, May 11, but a handful more in the Middle East will have a launch this Saturday, May 12.
Apple's assembly partner Foxconn recently began manufacturing devices in Brazil, and has opened plants intended for iPhone and iPad production there. Apple began selling iPhone 4 units built in Brazil in their home country in February, but thus far, production has been limited to the 8-gigabyte handset model, model number "MD198BR/A," and has not extended to version of the latest-model iPhone 4S.
Vote On The Nano-SIM Card Standard Is Currently Underway
In May of last year, Apple submitted a proposal for its nano-SIM card design that would replace the current micro-SIM. However, as of couple months ago, the company was fighting with rival mobile phone makers which were pushing their own standards for SIM cards. In an effort to convince other companies to support its design, Apple has even said that they will offer royalty-free patent license to its SIM-card design.
Apple, Samsung drop 'impressive' number of patent claims against each other
Apple and Samsung have greatly reduced the number of patent infringement claims against one another in their California lawsuit. Late on Monday, Apple made a filing in the suit that roughly cut the number of patent infringement, and five hours after Apple reduced the scope of its complaint, Samsung responded in kind, and offered to drop five of its 12 asserted patents.
But these actions were caused by the court order. The Judge Lucy Koh last week ordered the companies to cut down the number of claims they are making against each other. "I think that's cruel and unusual punishment to a jury, so I'm not willing to do it," Koh said of the multitude of patents and products included in the case. "If you're going to trial in July, this is not going to be acceptable”.
Apple rockets up Fortune 500 list, still trails HP
Fortune has recently published its annual ratings of the 500 largest corporations in America and placed Apple on the 17th place. That means that the company managed to leap 18 spots from the last year 35th place.
According to Fortune, the iPhone maker's performance in the "Computers, Office Equipment" industry was topped only by Hewlett-Packard, which finished 10th overall. HP's revenue totaled over $127 billion compared to Apple's $108 billion, however the percent of change from 2010 was a stark contrast between the two companies which grew 1 percent and 66 percent, respectively. Apple's profit skyrocketed to nearly $26 billion representing an 85 percent change from 2010, while HP saw negative growth of 19 percent with a little over $7 billion in profits.
Apple planning to launch $799 MacBook Air in Q3 2012
Apple is rumored to launch a $799 MacBook Air model in the third quarter of 2012 to compete with new "Ultrabook" laptops. Last month, it was said that Intel hopes to see shipments of as many as 30 million Ultrabooks this year. The company designed the Ultrabook specification after Apple found great success with its new MacBook Air.
Apple's plans are reportedly to counter second-generation Ultrabooks, based on Intel's specifications for thin and light notebooks, which PC makers hope to price around $699. If PC makers are unable to reach the $699 price point with their second-generation Ultrabooks, Apple could have a significant competitive advantage with an aggressive $799 price point for a new MacBook Air, the report claims.
Currently the cheapest Apple’s laptop is the 11.6-inch MacBook Air, which is priced at $999. The company is expected to begin revamping its Mac lineup in the coming weeks with Intel's latest-generation Ivy Bridge processors. The product is expected to begin with new MacBook Pros, starting with a 15-inch model.
iOS Dropped To 29 Percent Of US Smartphone Sales In The First Quarter
CNET
According to market research company NPD Group, Android was able to capture 61 percent of the U.S. market, which is a considerable gain from the 49 percent registered in last year’s fourth quarter.
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Apple TV Set To Have Face-Tracking Camera And Siri For Face Time Calls
Cult of Mac
iPad tablet market share will dip to 50% by 2017
NPD, market research firm, suggests that Apple’s tablet market share will drop to just over 50 percent by 2017. Android and Windows-based devices will, obviously, have a hand in it, and, as NPD expects, will begin continue to eat into the iPad's overwhelming lead by 2014.
The overall tablet market will swell from 81.6 million units in 2011 to 424.9 million units by 2017, and tablet shipments will surpass those of notebooks by 2016.
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Steve Jobs' liver transplant helped inspire Facebook organ donor program
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in an interview with ABC News that his friendship with Steve Jobs and his liver transplant that extended his life came to mind as he worked on a plan to increase the number of organ donors.
"That definitely, I think, was something that we all had in mind as we were building this out," Zuckerberg said. "His story is just one of many, of people who both were able to have an organ transplant that made his life longer, and he was extremely thankful for that."
‘New’ iPad 2,4 Uses 32nm A5 Instead Of 45nm A5 Found In iPad 2
Anand Tech
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Pod2g Succeeds in Untethered Jailbreak of iPhone 4 on iOS 5.1
Pod2g has announced via Twitter that he successfully made untethered jailbreak of the iPhone 4 on iOS 5.1. Previously, three parties had demonstrated the jailbreak of iOS 5.1: I0n1c, the iPhone Dev-Team, and Chpwn/Phoenixdev. Only I0n1c claimed untethered jailbreak, but made it clear that he will not be releasing his jailbreak to the public.
Thankfully pod2g has announced that he's also succeeded in untethering the jailbreak.
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More Claims Of Thinner, Taller Next-Generation iPhone With 4-Inch Display
iLounge also claims that Apple will include the smaller dock connector in the next iPhone, which will have 16 pins and the shape of its hole will be closer to a pill than the shape of the existing connector.
Apple Unlikely to Use Liquidmetal Alloys
Dr. Atakan Peker, who discovered and developed the formulation that later became Liquidmetal, said in an interview with Business Insider that Apple would need investment of $300 million to $500 million and over three years to ready the technology for mass-production of its electronic devices. He also mentioned that there is "no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology."
"This is a technology that has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development," Peker said. "I should note that this is a completely new and different metal technology."
Step-by-step Tutorial: How to Tether Jailbreak iPod Touch 3G Using Sn0wBreeze 2.9.3 (Windows) [iOS 5.1]
UPDATE: Apple released iOS 5.1.1 and has stopped signing iOS 5.1, so you can NOT restore to 5.1 any more (both original and custom), unless you have saved your SHSH keys for 5.0.1. If you are on 5.1 you can jailbreak with redsn0w. iOS is also tethered jailbreakable with redsn0w.
Using this tutorial you will be able to create a custom firmware, tether jailbreak and unlock iOS 5.1 running on iPod Touch 3G. This tutorial uses Sn0wBreeze 2.9.3 for Windows.
Tethered jailbreak means that each time you restart your device you will need to connect it to a computer and run iBooty.