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Archive for 2012
Apple Researching Motion-Sensing Virtual 3D User Interface for iOS Devices
Patently Apple has discovered a newly-published patent application from Apple. The application describes the use of motion sensors to create a virtual three-dimensional interface for iOS devices. Such interface could be a co-called virtual room that could be navigated by changing the orientation of the device. Noteworthy, similar concepts are found in some augmented reality apps.
The invention covers a 3D display environment for mobile device that uses orientation data from one or more onboard sensors to automatically determine and display a perspective projection of the 3D display environment based on the orientation data without the user physically interacting with (e.g., touching) the display.
Morgan Stanley: Apple's next iPhone to be slimmer, may include quad-mode LTE chip
Investment bank Morgan Stanley believes that Apple's next-generation iPhone will be slimmer and could include a quad-mode chip from Qualcomm that would allow for 3G and LTE functionality across all networks.
Morgan Stanley's analyst Katy Huberty suggests that the device will be ready at the end of the second quarter, but the launch will depend on «manufacturing yields,» and the next-generation iPhone is likely to arrive in the third quarter.
Huberty said «it appears that the next-generation iPhone will incorporate Qualcomm's quad-mode chip that would allow it to «run on all 3G and LTE network flavors,» but she said it was «too early to know for sure.»
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Sony Is Making Available Its Music Unlimited Service On iOS Devices
iTunes had for a long time been the only marketplace for iOS-device owners as third-party storefronts was prohibited by Apple’s rules. Giving way to government regulators, Apple last year changed its policy related to third-party stores and allowed subscriptions. This opened the way for music apps from Shazam and Spotify that have recently appeared on the iOS platfrorm. Currently another major music service is going to compete with iTunes.
iTunes had for a long time been the only marketplace for iOS-device owners as third-party storefronts was prohibited by Apple’s rules. Giving way to government regulators, Apple last year changed its policy related to third-party stores and allowed subscriptions. This opened the way for music apps from Shazam and Spotify that have recently appeared on the iOS platfrorm. Currently another major music service is going to compete with iTunes.
iOS Accessories At CES 2012: Wireless HDMI, Multi-docks, iNotebook, Kiosk
There are tons of accessories showed off at CES 2012, many of which were designed for iOS devices. Among the most interesting are multi-docs which offer various ways of charging several iOS devices simultaneously.
Apple awarded 676 patents in 2011
According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple was awarded a total of 676 patents in 2011. Now Apple is No. 39 among companies awarded inventions in the U.S., comparing with the last year result, when Apple won 563 patents and was ranked the No. 46 global company in terms of inventions.
The No. 1 inventor in America was IBM, which was awarded 6,180 patents in 2011. The second place belongs to Samsung, which won 4,894 inventions outside of its home country of Korea. The third place took Canon with 2,821 patents. Panasonic came in the fourth place with 2,559, while Toshiba took fifth with 2,483 inventions. Microsoft is in the sixth place, with 2,311 patents, Hewlett-Packard with 1,308 patents in 14th place, Intel with 1,244 patents in 16th place, and AT&T, whose 721 patents put it in 35th.
Apple announces education event in New York City next Thursday, Jan. 19
On Wednesday Apple sent out invitations for a special event set for January 19. The event will be held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, where will be made an announcement related to education.
The invitation, as shown by The Loop, features a chalkboard-style drawing outlining the skyline of New York. Front and center in the skyline is the Apple logo, while the tagline for the event confirms that the event will involve an education-related announcement.
According to the previous rumors, Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue will play a part in the demonstration. The event is highly unlikely to be devoted to a new device like an anticipated third-generation iPad or rumored Apple television.
Strong sales of iPhone 4S a precursor to 'monster' launch of redesigned 'iPhone 5'
The well-known Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, sent a note to investors on Wednesday where he increased his expectations related to the iPhone sales over the holiday quarter up to 30 million units. But the record sales aren’t the thing that really deserves attention. Instead, Munster 's looking toward the future, with a next-generation redesigned iPhone, which he believes is going to accelerate Apple's growth even further than the current iPhone 4S.
"If Apple sells 30 (million)-plus iPhones in Dec., with no new form factor, up from 17.1m in Sept., it would be evidence supporting our survey work indicating that 94% of iPhone users plan to upgrade to a new iPhone," Munster wrote. "This theme suggests iPhone 5, which we are expecting in Aug. with a new form factor, will be a monster upgrade."
Apple becomes No. 3 PC maker in US
Research group Gartner released preliminary PC shipment results for the fourth quarter of 2011, showing that Apple climbed to third place among U.S. PC vendors as the rest of the top five vendors saw shipments decline year over year. Apple saw 20.7 percent growth of Mac sales in the U.S. market from the year ago quarter, and took the No. 3 spot behind HP and Dell.
However, customers shied away from the world's largest PC maker in the fourth quarter, causing a 26.1 percent decline year over year. Shipments fell from 5.6 million in the last quarter of 2010 to 4.1 million. Dell had a 4.5 percent decline in shipments from 4.2 million in the year ago quarter to 4.0 million in the most recent quarter.
Greg Joswiak and other 250 employees from Apple were noticed at CES
Though Apple doesn’t officially participate at CES, the company continues to keep an eye on new products by its competitors, but is likely also interested in what companies are coming up with in terms of accessories for Apple's own products, and CES is a prime event for announcements for products of all types, including those within the Mac- and iOS-related markets. paidContent has in fact proven Apple's interest in CES when met accidently into iOS device marketing chief Greg Joswiak on the floor at the expo.
While wandering around the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, I bumped into Greg Joswiak, head of iOS product marketing for Apple, just outside of Sony’s booth. Joz, as he’s known within the Apple community, grinned sheepishly upon being recognized by a reporter and stopped to chat for a few minutes.
Infinity Field HD Is The First App With Multiplayer Joypad Support
’ space shooter Infinity Field HD was updated with Joypad support. is an app which allows users to control supported games on Mac or iPad from an iPhone by turning it into a virtual controller with configurable buttons.
Reportedly Foxconn And Pegatron Begin Assembly Of iPad 3 For Early-March Launch
Japanese blog Macotakara that Apple’s contract manufacturers Pegatron Technology and Foxconn Electronics was commisioned to begin assembly of next iPads for a launch in early March.
Kodak lawsuit accuses Apple of violating four patents
On Tuesday Kodak has filed lawsuits against Apple and HTC claiming infringement of patent violations regarding the sharing of digital pictures between various electronic devices. The claim accuses Apple of violating four digital photography patents Kodak said it obtained after "concluding it would be desirable for people to easily share pictures" from digital cameras without having to first upload them to a central PC. Apple and HTC are likely to cooperate with each other over the Kodak suit, although the companies are suing each other.
Essentially, any Apple product with a camera is affected by the proposed suit, but specifically cited examples include the iPad 2, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and the iPod touch (4th generation).It is unclear whether software like Apple's Photo Stream, which allows digital images taken on one iDevice to be pushed to other devices through the company's iCloud, or other third-party apps that allow for image transfer over Bluetooth or WiFi are being targeted in the suit.
Apple confirms purchase of flash memory company Anobit
Apple’s spokesman Steve Dowling confirmed on Tuesday that the company recently purchased Anobit Technologies, an Israel-based flash memory component maker, though it declined to reveal the cost of the deal. “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” Steve Dowling added. As far as we remember Apple planned to spend for acquisition of the company as much as $500 million. According to a Hebrew-language newspaper, the deal was finalized in December.
Apple already uses Anobit parts in its iOS devices and the MacBook Air, and the firm's proprietary "Memory Signal Processing" (MSP) technology reportedly attracted the Cupertino, Calif., company's interest. Anobit claims MSP can improve the reliability, performance, efficiency and endurance of flash memory.
Apple's 2012 shareholder meeting set for February 23
Apple Senior Vice President and General Counsel Bruce Sewell has issued a letter on Monday where Apple informs the company's shareholders that its annual shareholder meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Pacific on Feb. 23 and will include four shareholder proposals. Last year's meeting was also held on Feb. 23. Only shareholders of record as of Dec. 27, 2011 will be eligible to attend and vote at the meeting.
The agenda for the annual meeting includes: the election of Apple's board of directors, ratification of Ernst & Young as its independent registered public accounting firm for the year, an advisory vote on executive compensation and consideration of four shareholder proposals.
The first shareholder proposal is the request for a "Conflict of Interest Report" that requires to disclose any investments of board members that would represent a financial conflict of interest, describes the role board members play in the development of the company's policies.
Imagination Technologies Releases Details on Next-Generation GPU for iOS Devices
Apple has been long using graphics processing unit (GPU) manufactured by Imagination Technology in its iOS devices. Currently Apple is utilizing PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU in the A5 system-on-a-chip found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.
Imagination has now revealed new details on the upcoming Series6 family, touting performance improvements of 20x or more for the G6400 and G6200, the first two members of the family.