News tagged ‘app’

U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker accidentally dropped his iPhone 4 out of a plane when he was working as a Jump Master. The plane was traveling at roughly 150 mph when he stuck his body out of the plane door to look for landmarks. At that point, one of his pockets opened and his iPhone 4 dropped.  Ron thought that would have to buy a new phone. Later he shared the story with his friend who advised him to use Find My iPhone app. In a minute the phone was found two miles away in a wooded area between a two-lane highway and a lake. Within an hour, Ron with hope to back up his data for transfer to a replacement unit, found his device near a tree. How he was surprised then understood that the phone was in complete working order. His iPhone 4 survived a 1,000 foot drop from an airplane without a scratch on it!

Apple may be preparing for the launch of an updated iMac because the iMac has reached its average update interval. Expectations for revamped iMacs include a move to Sandy Bridge processors and implementation of the new Thunderbolt connectivity. There won’t be a redesign. The new machines will look the same as the old. Brian Tong at CNET claims to have received word from a reliable source that new iMacs should debut in late April or early May:

EXCLUSIVE: My Sources: New iMacs en route by ocean to U.S. available end of April or 1st week of May. No major cosmetic changes.

My sources say New iMacs will feature Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt. No other specifics.

We'll see if this pans out, but I'm highly confident in my source. If you're looking for a new iMac. WAIT FOR IT!

A rumors saying that Apple might kill and discontinue the iPod Classic first appeared last September when the company introduced the new iPod models for every line except the iPod Classic. Moreover, the device wasn’t updated since September 2009. But late January Toshiba introduced the new hard drives with the form factor used by the iPod classic, giving the possibility of new life for the iPod classic.

With the new interest in the iPod classic one of MacRumors readers emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs, asking him about the fate of the iPod Classic. Jobs responded him that the company was not going to discontinue the device. Though Apple’s plans may change!

Today Apple confirmed that the iPad 2 will be launched in 25 countries on this Friday: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Online sales will start at 1:00 AM Friday in each country and in-store at 5:00 iPad 2 will be available in Apple Stores. Apple also announced today that the iPad 2 will launch in Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries in April.

Apple has released the latest update to the Snow Leopard operating system, Mac OS X 10.6.7. The 10.6.7 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

• Improve the reliability of Back to My Mac;
• Resolve an issue when transferring files to certain SMB servers;
• Resolved an issue with mid-2010 MacBook Air kernel panics, AirPort driver issues;
• Improved brightness on external displays;
• Resolved a DVD player playback issue only seen on 64-bit Macs;
• Resolved the issue that could cause users accounts to disappear after the system went to sleep.

MacRumors reports an interesting and rather amazing story concerning the new iPad 2. As far as we know, Apple keeps an eye on the iPad 2 returns to identify any problems with the new tablet in early production units, like light-bleeding we’ve been hearing about. Among such returns was one really unusual with Post-it note saying that "Wife says no." The customer’s wife wouldn’t let him to keep the device.

But a pair of the Apple’s Vice-presidents got wind of the story and decided to send him a replacement out of free iPad 2 with a new Post-it note on it: “Apple said yes”. Sounds like a great story, isn’t it?

Stuart Hughes has created the most expensive and exclusive iPad 2 in the world. The 3G iPad 2 encrusted with diamonds, gems, gold, a 75 million year old Ammolite rock and a 65 million year old dinosaur bone, costs a whopping £5,000,000.00.

Undoubtably the world’s most unique gadget is the Ipad 2 Gold History Edition. Encrusted with 12.5 cts of ‘I’F’ Flawless diamonds, a magnificent total of 53 individually set sparkling gems dwell beautifully in solid 24ct Apple logo with rear section formed again in 24ct gold weighing an immense 2,000 grams. The unrivalled imagination towards the craftmanship of the ipad is down to its main front frame which is made from the oldest rock the world has to offer in the form of Ammolite , sourced from Canada this stone is over 75 million years old. However to make this masterpiece even more individual, sections of a 65 million year old T-REX Dinosaur’s thigh bone was splintered and then shaved into the Ammolite , then finished off with ultimate jewel , as single cut 8.5ct flawless diamond inlaid in its own platinum surround with 12 outer flawless diamonds. A magnificent combination of top of the industry technology and unique thought were involved in creating this piece of History.

According to Bloomberg, Apple has sued Amazon over the use of the name “App Store”.  Apple, in a complaint filed March 18, accused Amazon.com of trademark infringement and unfair competition and asks for a court order to prevent the company from using the “App Store” name. Amazon is planning to launch its own “Amazon Appstore” for Android devices, a marketplace to distribute and download apps. Apple claims to have contacted Amazon three times demanding that they change their name, but Amazon has yet to provide a "substantive response".

“Amazon has begun improperly using Apple's App Store mark in connection with Amazon's mobile software developer program," Apple said in the complaint. “We’ve asked Amazon not to copy the App Store name because it will confuse and mislead customers.”

iPad 2 was expected to hit Europe on March 25th. However Czech Republic iPad website now shows that iPad 2 will be available April 25, so they might just got pushed back a month. (for those not in the know, Dubna=April).

iPad 2 microphones: 3G (top) vs. Wi-Fi (bottom)

iLounge found out that the microphones on Wi-Fi and 3G models of iPad 2 have differences in quality of sound.  The best sound quality was demonstrated by the Wi-Fi model.  It might be caused by the fact that the mic on the Wi-Fi model is on an aluminum surface while on 3G is on the black plastic. The differences are most noticeable when the iPad is held facing the user, for example, when using FaceTime or other video applications.

Perhaps due to this change in materials, the Wi-Fi model offers markedly cleaner audio than that of the 3G, which sounds slightly muffled and echo-prone as a result. Curiously, we found the GSM 3G model's audio to be slightly preferable to that of the CDMA model, which seemed to suffer the issues more severely.

In the previous model of iPad the microphone located next to the headphone jack on the top edge but in iPad 2 Apple decided to place it in the center. Though, it seems that such change does Apple more harm than good.

Traditional video from Blendtec. Now they try to blend Apple iPad 2. So will it blend? Let's watch to find out.

Well, they took aluminum case away.

Apple has finally brought wireless tethering functionality with iOS 4.3. It is called Personal Hotspot and allows users to share iPhone’s cellular data connection with other devices over WiFi connection.

For instance, you can connect your iPad WiFi only model to the internet via iPhone. There's one less reason to pay additional $130 for a 3G iPad. There is another difference between iPad WiFi and iPad 3G - GPS. Well, it looks loke WiFi-only iPad inherits GPS positioning capabilities when you tether the tablet to an iPhone via the Personal Hotspot feature.

Kyle Carmitchel from TabletMonsters discovered this by accident and posted a video to prove it.

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Apple published three new iPhone commercials that introduce an interesting new formula. Old ads used "There’s an app for that" catchphrase, the new commercials take the opposite angle. They start with a simple line "If you don’t have an iPhone," then launch into a quick overview of key iPhone features, with the voiceover explaining the stuff you’re unable to do unless.

In the end we hear the tagline, "Yup, if you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone.".

Here's two more - iBooks and iPod+iTunes commercials:

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Now, after release of the iPad 2, Apple is asking its US customers to donate their out-of-date fist-generation iPads to Teach For America. The company posted on its webpage a teaser that you may notice on the right visiting Apple’s official site. Apple says:

Your old iPad can help teach kids a thing or two. Donate your old iPad at an Apple Retail Store, and Teach For America will give it to a teacher in a low-income community.

Moreover, Teach For America is a corporation listed among those that provide tax deductions for direct donations. So if you’re interested in donating your old iPad for a good cause, you might, probably, receive a tax deduction in addition.

This time the second iPad’s A5 processor has became an object of teardown, revealing that the chip is indeed being manufactured by Samsung.  Some recent rumors claimed that Apple is shifting production from Samsung to TSMC. Apple is said to be interested in switching from Samsung because the company competes with both the iPhone and the iPad with its own devices - the Galaxy S smartphone and the Galaxy Tab tablet, respectively.

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