News tagged ‘ARM’
Apple develops location-aware iPhone alert system
This week AppleInsider
The system would reportedly use its user's calendar events and GPS in order to determine how much time it will be required for the person to travel to the scheduled event and alert him about that.
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Apple’s Data Center Makes A Google Maps Appearance
Apple’s new data center in Maiden, North Carolina, is now visible in Google Maps. The building hasn’t changed at all – it’s the same constriction we’ve seen in different shots during the past months. But it is interesting that only now Apple allowed Google to display the data center in theirs Maps service after Apple’s announcement concerning the WWDC where Apple confirmed that Steve Jobs would appear at the conference keynote and that the company will unveil the iOS 5, OS X Lion and iCloud. It seems that such sudden appearance of the data center in Google Maps may be a confirmation of Apple’s intention to use this massive facility for iCloud and cloud-related services.
New rumors about iPhone 4S и iPhone 5
Macotakara posted some new rumors about upcoming iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 models.
According to an anonymous source, this reported product by DigiTimes is improved model of iPhone 4 on same form factor, and uses ARM Cortex-A9 chip as CPU, but it is not confirmed whether this model has single CPU or with dual CPU's.
They confirmed that the new iPhone (called “iPhone 4S”) will carry ARM Cortex-A9 CPU (A5 chip), however it is unknown whoever it will be single or dual core. The iPhone 4S is said to include the * mega-pixel camera and 3-4 antennas to provide compatibility with both AT&T and Verizon networks. Macotakara revived rumors about sim-less iPhone with built-in chip inside with network settings.
Intel May Produce Chips For Apple
On the recent investor event in London Intel CFO Stacy Smith hinted that Intel negotiates with Apple about production of the ARM-based chips for iPhones and iPads.
"If Apple or Sony came to us and said 'I want to do a product that involves your IA (Intel architecture) core and put some of my IP around it,' I wouldn't blink. That would be fantastic business for us,"
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Apple Testing an ARM (A5) Powered MacBook Air
Japanese blog Macotakara in its latest story claims that an A5-powered MacBook Air with Thunderbolt I/O is being tested in Apple’s labs. The machine could be manufactured by Quanta Computer, the story has it. The article quotes a source who allegedly saw an early prototype:
According to this source who saw live A5 MacBook Air actually, this test machine performed better than expected. Though it’s not clear which Mac OS X or iOS is pre-installed on this A5 MacBook Air, iOS seems to have difficulty to use features of Thunderbolt without Finder. And even if Mac OS X is installed, developer should spend time to support A5 on Universal Binary Applications. As considering these situation, this A5 MacBook Air seems to be made just for experiment.
This news comes weeks after another rumor claiming that Apple is planning on transitioning from Intel to ARM-based processors on their laptops in the not too distant future. Another major issue is that while ARM processors are more power efficient, they presently offer significantly lower performance than their Intel counterparts.
Some iCloud Music Service Details
Apple’s upcoming iCloud service, rumored to include streaming of iTunes collections to a variety of devices and computers, is said to be formally introduced at the WWDC keynote on June 6. Businessweek says “three people briefed on the talks” (between Apple and music labels) have suggested Apple will provide a scanning tool that quickly mirrors songs to iCloud’s servers, also offering a way to replace those songs with better-quality versions if quality is not deemed “good enough.”
HP Is Going To Outrun Apple And Become "Number One Plus"
Journalist Matt Warman from The Daily Telegraph has recently
"In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one. In the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus."
Large Pharmaceutical Companies Subscribing iPads to Sales Reps
Pharmaceutical sales reps are trying to find better ways to engage and sale their products during all their sales calls. Doctors and physicians typically only give these sales reps 30 seconds of their time as well. That’s not very much time so every second is important, and so is presentation.
Eric Newmark, an analyst at IDC Health Insights, says that sales reps “still struggle with their ability to differentiate themselves through clear, concise, and interactive messaging.” So the pharmaceutical industry may have a solution to the problem: Purchase many Apple iPads to give the sale reps “a quicker, lighter and more attractive way of displaying drug-related information,” Newmark wrote.
Apple to Move from Intel to ARM Processors in Future Laptops
SemiAccurate reports that Apple will implement to ARM processors, instead Intel ones currently used, in its new laptops in the not too distant future.
The short story is that Apple is moving the laptop line, and presumably desktops too, to ARM based chips as soon as possible.
The site seems to believe that the transition will take place after ARM has moved to full 64-bit cores which won't likely be until at least mid-2013. Apple has made a heavy investment in the ARM architecture which presently powers their iOS line of products.
Apple Renovates Heritage Building in Australia For Another Store
This week Australian site MacTalk reported that Apple will build a new retail store in Brisbane, Australia. An application filed with the Brisbane City Council reveals the company is going to renovate the MacArthur Chambers building, which was built back in 1930s and used by U.S. general Douglas MacArthur during World War II as South West Pacific Area HQ of the allied forces.
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Cydia 1.1.1 released
Cydia lead developer Jay Freeman released Cydia 1.1.1. You can update it in Cydia. It became much faster and more stable.
Features of new Cydia will include:
- the ability to run and operate Activator, libstatusbar, and SimulatedKeyEvents while Cydia is running
- an overall speed improvement, including the “Loading Changes” dialog
- “much less” memory usage
- a more advanced search mechanism with a new relevancy algorithm
- better management of broken repositories
Here is a full changelog discussion from Saurik:
Microphone Differences Found Between Wi-Fi and 3G iPad 2 Models
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.
iPad WiFi model gets GPS when tethered to an iPhone
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.
What to expect from iPad 2?
There are lots of rumors about forthcoming second-gen iPad hardware. The iPad 2 is expected to be slimmer and lighter, with a larger speaker and an improved display designed to deliver a better experience in bright sunlight. It will likely run on a 1.2GHz, dual-core, ARM Cortex-A9 chip and Imagination’s SGX543 GPU architecture. The new iPad probably will support both GSM and CDMA thank to the Qualcomm chip. It will have double the RAM–512MB, same as the iPhone 4, as well as front camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth and back-facing one for POV FaceTime and shooting photos and video.
Alongside the new iPad Apple may also announce iOS 5 preview at the event. iOS 5 is expected to have new voice navigation, maps application and certainly Cloud/MobileMe/iWork/iLife integration, and updated notifications.
HP’s Latest TouchSmart PCs Rips Off Apple Touchscreen iMac Patent
The new Windows PCs both, HP’s latest TouchSmart series, look exactly like Apple’s multitouch iMac. Some Apple’s patents over the past year suggest that the company has been experimenting with multitouch-capable iMacs with pivoting displays that pull down to a more appropriate horizontal orientation when a user wants to interact with on-screen elements directly. HP’s multitouch computers feature a pull-down design that drops the multitouch display into a horizontal position to reduce arm fatigue. Just like the Apple’s patent!