News from category ‘Other’

As you remember, last Friday the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team searched the house of Gizmodo's editor who reportedly had iPhone 4G prototype. Well now we have information from MarketWatch that the steering committee which oversees the REACT team consists of Apple, Google, Adobe and other companies. This data was taken from California's High Technology Crime Advisory Committee's annual report dated 2008.

Moreover, it is reported that the steering committee doesn't have "defined membership" and its meetings can be visited by all of the company representatives. Apple representatives did not visit any recent meeting, but the company is currently listed amongst companies that have open investigations to attend. That means that Apple may be a director of a Friday episode with Jason Chen.

But today's news reveals that is not the end of the story.

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Recently Сhitika estimated the number of iPads sold by making a study based on its own online advertising network. The report reveals than Apple has sold more than 1 million of their tablets. The exact number is being refreshed every second so you can check it out here. And this is a current scale of iPad's popularity in some U.S. cities:

• California - 19,12%
• New York - 8,3%
• Texas - 8%
• Florida - 5,88%
• Illinois - 3,84%
• Wyoming - 0,03%

The report also has information than an average iPad has approximately 2,33 different IP addresses. Necessary data was received by tracking browser cookies.

Earlier Apple has also revealed that at the end of the first week there were sold more 500,000 iPads. The company claims it's very surprised with a level of initial demand.

This April's issue of Italian Vanity Fair looks just adorable with Rihanna dressed in a tech sexy coat with her iPhone whipped out from where her shirt should be. That is a really cool idea, because Italians just love gadgets and such a mega pop star with the most popular device will excite everyone!

[via]

Another report made by Nikkei reveals that most of the Japanese online electronic stores stopped selling iMacs, iPods and other products because of an Apple's request. At the moment Yodobashi Camera Co., Kojima Co., Bic Camera Inc. and Yamada Deni Co. Web sites point that Apple products were totally sold out or they are not for sale and may be available only in retail stores. Though Joshin Denki Co. and Amazon.com's Japanese store are continuing to sell iDevices.

There is also information from China Business News that China Unicom carrier will reduce the iPhone price from 6,999 yuan (~1050$) to 1,000 yuan (~150$). The company hopes that the smartphone will help it to boost its 3G network. Now China Unicom also considers making reduced rates for those of the subscribers who already have 3G devices to advance the growth of its data network.

And some humour on IphoneRoot. Here is a set of pictures made by someone named ntr23. They reveal a story of unboxing iPad by three brave Lego men.

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According to the US FTC, today Apple has purchased a virtual assistant application Siri. The cost of the deal is $200 million.

Scobleizer's author Robert Scoble thinks the purchase is very important to Apple:

"The value in unlocked is huge. This shows Apple is very willing to buy its way into the new mobile web and the new API-driven web. This also could be a major cornerstone in how it competes with Google."

Siri is a voice-guided application that acts as a concierge or personal assistant. It helps you to interact with your mobile device via your voice only.

Recently Oprah Winfrey declared herself a fan of iPad in the front of millions of TV viewers. She called the device "amazing" and said that its hardware will "change the way kids learn." TV host admires its backlit touchscreen and thinks it has great opportunities for reading, playing games and sharing photos.

Some time ago Oprah has been promoting Amazon Kindle on TV, and once the sales of this device were boosted so strong the company had problems with keeping up with demand. When she has been speaking about iPad she also mentioned Kindle in the past tense, like she "HAD a Kindle". But later her spokesperson said she still uses both devices.

Oprah's Book Club may be viewed in iBookstore for iPad, and its books may be purchased for a standard fee.

As you remember, recently we wrote about police investigating the deal about Gizmodo purchase of an iPhone 4G prototype. The company paid $5,000 to obtain it from an unknown person who found it at one of the California's bars.

Last Friday California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team visited Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home and seized 2 servers and 4 computers for a felony investigation of an iPhone 4G prototype. If to be exact, here is a list:

• MacBook
• MacBook Pro
• 32 Gb iPad
• 16 Gb IPhone
• AirPort Extreme
• IBM ThinkPad
• Dell desktop
• External hard drives and some other devices and accessories

This information was revealed by Gizmodo. The author of the post placed copy of the warrant, which was issued by a superior court judge in San Mateo County, California. It is also stated in the article that warrant is invalid because of a section 1524(g) of the California Penal Code.

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Finnish company Nokia admitted last week that the competition on the high-end smartphone market is high enough and it is finally affected on quarterly earnings. In the first quarter of 2010 Finnish cellphone maker earned 465$ million. In the same period of the 2009 they earned 162$ million. Well that can be explained by an economical situation in the world, but this year results were expected by analysts to be higher.

Nokia conceded the average selling price of their cellphone products dropped down from 66 to 62 euros. The numbers for smartphones are more significant - from 190 (first quarter of 2009) to 155 euros (first quarter of 2010).

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is pretty obsessed about this fact:

"We continue to face tough competition with respect to the high end of our mobile device portfolio".

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Monte Vista Christian School in California has purchased sixty Apple iPads for use in its classrooms. The devices were introduces last Thursday to those of the students who will participate in an experimental project. If the results will be successful, Monte Vista's headmaster Stephen Sharp will replace textbooks with interactive e-versions.

“There are many academic advantages. They provide new access to photos, videos, daily newspapers and resource material that enhance the curriculum.”

Marcus Scwager, who is an English teacher, is excited about the function of pop-up word definitions while reading Shakespeare's "The Tempest". Science teacher Cynthia Armstrong used an iPad to show a cutaway of female body with a zoom function for closer look.

As the iPads are used only for classroom use, students e-mail their notes to a previously created account that they can access later at home. They can use a special app for copying graphs from the board, SoundPaper app to record lectures for listening it later where they want.

Alyssa Villanueva, who is a 15-year-old student, also enjoys the iPad:

“It’s a little easier to use. You can really focus on where you’re studying."

Apple provides a $50 school discount for its tablets. The company has also developed a special program for teachers to train them to use the new technology.

Recently Apple has hired new global editorial games manager for iTunes App Store. His name is Matt Cassamassina and he has over 13 years experience of games reviewing.

Matt started his game career with the launch of N64.com. Later this resource was bought by IGN, where he continued to work. In the gaming industry he is known as the expert and information source about Nintendo.

After his appointment he wrote in his blog:

"I will be leading the charge for games on the App Store, so whether you browse through iTunes, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the games content you see will be handpicked and organized by me and my team. I couldn’t be happier."

Matt Cassamassina will start his work in Apple at the beginning of May.

App Store games became very popular since the release of iPod Touch. Profit from game creating and selling it on iTunes attracted many single developers which lead to a success of the iPhone and iPod Touch as handheld gaming devices. The popularity of App Store games is even frightening for Sony and Nintendo that are now looking forward to create something innovative in the gaming industry.

Early this morning 9to5mac.com has posted a link to an eBay page where some seller was selling 2 semi-working iPod Touches that have cameras (!) and run a development version of the iPod OS.

The devices are marked with "Apple Development Team", "DVT-1" and "DVT-2". DVT means "design verification test". As you see from the photos below the UI looks pretty strange. Some people say it is a software that hardware team gets to set.

Currently the link is being broken so we can't check the information. Maybe Gizmodo already bought it? Also, the devices look very used, so there is no reason why it can't be another Chinese clone.

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This Wednesday London Evening Standard posted an article about supposed acquisition of ARM Holdings by Apple. According to the source:

"Apple is ARM's biggest customer and speculation is that the iPad maker wants to take chip design in house."

With a reference to an unknown trader it is claimed that with such a deal Apple could stop ARM from delivering its technology to everyone else's devices. That looks convenient. But we were not sure if it is a rumor or not, so we waited for a while for further information.

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As you remember, some time ago Gizmodo acquired an iPhone 4G prototype for $5,000. The story was pretty mystical - Gray Powell who is (or was?) an Apple employee decided to drink some beer and then lost his iPhone 4G in the pub. Another guy found it and then supposedly tried to bring it back to Apple, but nobody believed it's an iPhone 4G. So he sold it to Gizmodo.

Journalists at Gizmodo were very happy - they made a video of it, took dozens of pictures, disassembled it and again made photos and videos.  Then Apple officially asked Gizmodo to bring it back and they did it.

Well now we have information from the report made by Greg Sandoval at CNET where it is said the police are currenty investigating the circumstances of the story to find the evidence enough to support the criminal prosecution.

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Few days ago Lang Lang, who is a famous Chinese pianist, had a concert at San Francisco's Davies' Symphony Hall. At one moment he amazed audience with playing The Flight of the Bumblebee on an Apple's iPad! He made this possible with Magic Piano iPad app that is available for download here.

It is amazing how apps can make a device so functional. But some people say it is impossible to play like this on an iPad because its touch screen is not sensitive enough for such a fast play. You can even notice the moment when Lang Lang gives a device to conductor without skipping a beat. So probably it's just a record that was made before.