Tech in Asia reports that Apple is preparing to bring support for Chinese, Japanese and Russian to Siri on the iPhone 4S next month. Chinese support will only include Mandarin, with Cantonese and other dialects being left out for the time being.
The Chinese tech site DoNews claims to have heard from an Apple engineer who’s working on the Chinese-language version of Siri, the clever voice assistant on the iPhone 4S. From this source it claims that Siri will launch in Chinese next month, and is already undergoing internal testing this month. [...]
The president of TuneCore Jeff Price published a blog post praising iTunes Match service for generating money "out of thin air" for owners of copyrights. Apple’s iTunes Match launched in partnership with all major recording studios, but some small studios refused to cooperate over concerns that the iTunes Match was legitimizing music piracy. He says:
After being defeated by Motorola in a patent dispute over FRAND licensing this month, Apple proposed the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to set consistent royalties for patents that are essential to wireless communication standards, according to the Wall Street Journal. The body participates in setting the standards relating to 4G LTE, 3G UMTS and GSM technologies.
Apple today announced that it would support Paul McCartney's new album release. The company plans to steam a special free video of the live concert on Thursday, February 9 via iTunes on Mac and PC. The video will also be available directly on users' Apple TVs, signalling new efforts by Apple to increase the utility of its set-top box.
To celebrate the release of Paul McCartney's latest album — available now — we're streaming his exclusive performance at Capitol Studios on February 9 at 7 p.m. (PST). Watch the concert on iTunes on your computer, or stream it on your TV using your Apple TV — just choose iTunes Live from the Internet menu.
Yesterday Apple notified members of the company’s iOS Developer Program that they will be required to provide high-resolution, Retina Display compatible screenshots. The screenshots are required when initially submitting or updating an app through iTunes Connect.
The note sent out to third-party software developers says that any future updates will not be approved by Apple unless 960x640 pixel screenshot is included, a change from the company's earlier policy which supported Retina Display screenshots but did not require them.
An anonymous source disclosed to The Globe and Mail that Canadian telecoms Rogers and Bell Canada have an early version of a much-rumored Apple television set in their labs. Another source familiar with the negotiations said Apple is in negotiations with the telecommunication giants to enter into a partnership for the device.
“They’re not closed to doing it with one [company] or doing it with two,” the source said. “They’re looking for a partner. They’re looking for someone with wireless and broadband capabilities.”
All of the companies mentioned in the report declined to comment. Both Rogers and Bell already have an existing agreement with Apple to offer its iPhone device on their wireless networks.
Today Apple released three EFI firmware updates adding Lion Internet Recovery service to the Mid-2010 iMac, Late 2010 MacBook Air and Early 2010 MacBook Pro. The available updates include MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3, iMac EFI Update 1.8 and MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.6.
A company Zero1.tv created an accessory for iOS devices that works as a universal remote control. The app-enabled accessory called VooMoteZapper eliminates the necessity for multiple remote control apps used for individual electronics products and replaces them with a single solution for managing home devices. This product plugs into the 30-pin dock connector on iOS-devices and does not require a separate battery.
In a message posted to Apple's Developer site today Apple has warned App Store developers against using promotional services that seek to increase the visibility of their titles by automating sales to inflate their apps' apparent popularity or by posting phony reviews, threatening to terminate their accounts if they do.
"Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership. Get helpful tips and resources on marketing your apps the right way from the App Store Resource Center."
iSmashPhone reports that in China Apple may face a $38 million fine from government bodies over alleged infringement of the trademark related to the "iPad" name. However, the fine pales by comparison to the $1.6 billion claim from Proview Technology. The company asserts that it owns the rights for the name and seeks to win a series of suits filed against Apple. Also Proview reportedly expects an apology from Apple and seeks an injunction restraining Apple from using this name in China.
In 2010, Tristan Schaap, who now serves as a Core OS engineer at Apple, published a Bachelor thesis on his 12-week stint as an intern with Apple's Platform Technologies Group, a subdivision of the Core OS department. The thesis revealed that the former Apple intern had been working on the secret project to port Mac OS X Snow Leopard to the ARM architecture.
According to the paper, Schaap worked with the group to get Darwin, the "lower half" of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, to boot onto an ARM processor from Marvell. During the course of the project, he achieved his goal of "booting into a multi-user prompt," though some issues still remained due to a "poor implementation on the debug hardware."
Best Buy has decided to carry out a survey related to the rumored Apple’s HDTV powered by iOS that, noteworthy to say, has not been released yet. The questionnaire notes that the 42-inch Apple HDTV "finally reinvents what a TV can do," with a 1080p LED flat panel display, connectivity with iCloud, and the ability to use an iPhone or an iPad as a remote control, and "iSight" camera. Such details, however, look like speculations on the part of Best Buy. Since introducing FaceTime video chat, Apple has referred to its forward-facing cameras as FaceTime cameras, not iSight.
Today analytics firm IDC published a report covering five major smartphone manufacturers by market share and shipments for the final quarter of 2011. There is no surprise that Apple takes the first position. According to firm’s data, smartphone manufacturers shipped 157.8 million devices in the fourth quarter, of which 37 million came from Apple, accounting for 23.5% share of the market in the quarter.
Apple's A5 System on a Chip incorporates noise reduction technology by Audience, Inc., which optimizes the performance of Siri voice recognition on iPhone 4S.
Audience explains that by "imitating the complex processing that occurs from the inner ear to the brain, Audience's intelligent earSmart technology distinguishes and interprets sounds as people do naturally. In a mobile device, the earSmart processor effectively isolates and enhances the primary voice signal and suppresses surrounding noise--for both transmit and receive--to enable clear conversations nearly anywhere."
The company notes that "far-field uses are more vulnerable to background noise interference and poor voice quality given the speaker's distance from the device," an issue that has previously been noted in regard to rumors that Apple might deploy TV systems incorporating Siri voice technology.
After The New York Times reported on the working condition of major Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn in China, other publications have been conducting their own investigations to find out more information. Today, CNN posted a video from a journalist Stan Grant who recently held an interview with the current employee of Foxconn and assembler of iPad display: