News tagged ‘HDMI’

Apple opened its virtual doors around 1AM this morning and now the iPad 2 is available for order on the US Apple Online Store. There is a choice out of 18 models - WiFi, GSM or CDMA; Black or White; 16, 32 or 64GB. All 18 models are available for order and they all ship in 3-5 business days. UPDATE: most of the models are now ships within 2-3 weeks.

Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover is available as well, shipping in 1-2 business days. Smart Cover is available either leather ($69) or Polyurethane ($39) option with 5 colors per material. As we were told during iPad 2 presentation - Apple is also selling an HDMI cable ($39) for the iPad 2.

Those who do not want to order their iPad 2 online can purchase one at an Apple retail, AT&T, Target, Verizon, Best Buy, Walmart, or Sam’s Club store starting March 11th at 5 PM local time.

Apple just released new iOS 4.3 firmware. Jailbreakers and unlockers should wait for new tools. Everybody else will benefit. iOS 4.3 has Safari speed improvements, AirPlay features, hotspot, Home sharing, a new option for customizing the iPad's side switch to serve as a mute toggle or screen orientation lock and much more:

This update contains new features and improvements, including the following:

* Personal Hotspot
- Share iPhone 4 cellular data with up to 5 devices (combination of up to 3 Wi-Fi, 3 Bluetooth, and 1 USB)

* iTunes Home Sharing
- Play music, movies, and TV shows from a shared iTunes library on a Mac or PC (requires iTunes 10.2)

* New AirPlay features
- Play videos from the Photos app including the Camera Roll album, iTunes previews, enabled third-party apps and websites on Apple TV
- Play slideshows from Photos on Apple TV using transitions available on Apple TV

* Faster Safari performance with Apple Nitro JavaScript engine

* HD video out using the Apple Digital AV Adapter
- View 720p HD videos from Videos app, iPod app, Photos, YouTube, Safari, Keynote, and enabled third-party apps on an HDMI display

* Ping features
- Push notifications for comments and follow requests
- Post and Like songs directly from the Now Playing screen
- Parental controls

* New Settings
- Messages setting for number of times to repeat an alert
- iPad side switch setting to lock screen rotation or mute audio notifications and sound effects

* Single tap conference call dialing with a pause to send a passcode

* Bug fixes

Products compatible with the software update:

• iPhone 4 (GSM model)
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad
• iPod touch (4th generation)
• iPod touch (3rd generation)
• Apple TV 2G

iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G and iPhone 4 Verizon do not have iOS 4.3 update.

Here are the direct links to download iOS 4.3:

device
version
release date


AppleTV(2G) (AppleTV2,1)
4.3 (8F191m)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPad (iPad1,1)
4.3 (8F190)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPad2,1 (iPad2,1)
4.3 (8F191)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPad2,2 (iPad2,2)
4.3 (8F191)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPad2,3 (iPad2,3)
4.3 (8F191)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPhone3GS (iPhone2,1)
4.3 (8F190)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPhone4 (iPhone3,1)
4.3 (8F190)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPodTouch(3G) (iPod3,1)
4.3 (8F190)
03/09/2011 13:07:02


iPodTouch(4G) (iPod4,1)
4.3 (8F190)
03/09/2011 13:07:02

Apple has just made its second-generation iPad official! It features a 1GHz dual-core A5 chip. The new CPU is said to be up to twice as fast, with graphics performance up to nine times better than on the original iPad, while power requirements have been kept the same. Battery life is expected to be the same - Apple is promising 10 hours. Pricing has been left unchanged, starting at $499.

The new tablet will come with an HDMI output capable of 1080p, but it requires $39 adapter. There's an enlarged speaker grille on the back though resolution remained the same as the original iPad's 1024 x 768.

iPad 2, finally, has two cameras, both front and rear! 720p video recording at 30fps will be available from the rear-facing camera, which can also do a 5x digital zoom. The front-facing camera will record at VGA resolution 30fps. FaceTime is supported on the iPad 2.

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Today Apple showed off its new lineup of MacBook Pros and unveiled new technology called Thunderbolt. When Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller was explaining what's new in upgraded devices, he also mentioned Thunderbolt:

“The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers. Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.”

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Yesterday Apple released a software update 4.2.1 for the second-generation Apple TV to address resolution problem caused by incorrect displaying of content and downloading issue that may cause a movie o TV show to be re-downloaded.  Some users noticed that the update might resolve also flickering issue. Some of users used a HDMI to DVI cable to watch the Apple TV content and after the update, the flickering was gone. Though, other users found that the update doesn't resolve their issues.

Apple seems to have grate plans for 2011. So, we’d summarized all rumors and official statement, and formed the following list, which shows Apple's plans for the new year:

• Lion OS;
• Mac App Store;
• iPad 2
• Implementing of Light Peak optical interconnect technology developed by Intel to replace such things like USB, DisplayPort and HDMI. In future, the technology has the potential to reach speeds of 100Gbps. it is also requires smaller connections and thinner cables;
• New model of MacBook Pro notebooks equipped with Intel's Light Peak, 512 GB of SSD storage, without an optical drive. These MacBook Pro's will last longer, run quieter and be lighter and more power-efficient;
• Apple-branded Blu-ray player/burning device which is also capable of burning standard optical media such as DVD or CD;
• Subscription service via iTunes, which would be focused on video services.

This week Acer revealed that it's going to ship two Android-based tablets in April 2011, and one Windows 7 tablet in February 2011.

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CNet reviewd the new Apple TV 2-nd generation. Here's what they think of it:

The good: Costs $99; rent movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store; 99-cent HD TV show rentals on some Fox and ABC shows; supports Netflix streaming; incredibly small design; outstanding user interface; can be controlled by iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch; streams music and videos from PCs and Macs running iTunes; promising future AirPlay functionality should be available in November.

The bad: Very limited selection of TV shows, especially compared with Amazon Video On Demand; confusion between what's available on Apple TV iTunes Store and PC-based iTunes store; doesn't support the full suite of media apps (Pandora, etc.) available on the iPhone and iPad; can't connect to older, pre-HDMI TVs.

The bottom line: The Apple TV's new low $99 price makes it an easy impulse buy for Apple fans looking to bring Netflix into the living room, but you may want to wait until more content--or Apple's forthcoming AirPlay update--becomes available.

Watch the video below:

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Patently Apple does what they do and this morning they uncovered some patents that provide a peak into the future of the iPad. The first is a second 30-pin dock connector port on the left side of the iPad for landscape/horizontal docking.

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We know how the new iPhone 4 compares to the iPhone 3GS. Now it is time to size it against its fiercest competitors from all the major platforms. Take a look at the results against the HTC EVO 4G, Nokia N8, Palm Pre Plus and HTC HD2:

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We're back on reporting about the apps and gadgets presented on the MWSF 2010. Now we'll talk about iV Plus - the solution to turn your iPhone into remote; FloTV - the service to watch TV in the USA; Square Up service to pay for everything you need only with your credit card and iPhone; and Wissair's USB DisplayDock Set will get the screen from your laptop to the HDTV-set wirelessly.

U-Socket turned to be out a very interesting solution, but FastMac was found to offer something more. The thing on the pictures below is called The iV Plus. It helps to manage a set of your home devices and consists of IR Remote, Battery Pack, Flash LED and case that wraps around the iPhone. FastMac will also provide free Universal Remote software to work with this creation. The iV Plus will be shipped expectedly in the second quarter of 2010 for $130.

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We're continuing to cover news from the MWSF 2010, and this time the talk will be about MacSpeech Scribe app, MusicSkins accesories, Kanex adapter and CarMD device.

MacSpeech is known for its MacSpeech Dictate program that allows user to speak to Mac and wind up with formatted text. At the MWSF company released MacSpeech Scribe (US 149$), which turns recorded audio into RTF-files (that are readable by any word processor). It doesn't create text with punctuation and you have to train the program by correcting its mistakes, but with the Nuance engine from the previous app it looks really impressive.

MusicSkins was also present at the MacWorld 2010. This time there were vinyl skins not only for Apple devices, but for any gadgets known (at least they say they add 5-10 devices to their roster per week). Company reps told us the accessories for the iPad are also ready to be printed, but before it’ll go to the market they want to make sure their production will work well and fit correctly to the device. At this moment skins for iPod and iPhone (US 15$) and for the Macbook (US 30$) are available.

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iPad's announcement caused many people to wonder why Apple decided to use an ancient standard for video output rather than a more modern protocol, such as DisplayPort or HDMI output.

About ten years ago Apple changed Macs output from VGA to DVI standard that supported HD resolution displays and improved digital accuracy. Few years later Apple made another shift – from DVI to DisplayPort. So why Apple chose VGA output on the iPad? There are 2 main reasons:

1. Most of the video projectors support the iPad’s resolution of 1024x768 over a VGA port.
2. VGA is sufficient to handle the iPad’s resolution, and it is really cheaper and easier.

For more details – watch the video of Daniel Eran Dilger from the RoughDrafted Magazine: