News from category ‘Official’

Yesterday Apple’s Mac OS X celebrated its 10th birthday! Mac OS X 10.0 deputed on March 24, 2001 and had a codename “Cheetah”. That release changed future not only the Mac platform but also the whole company turning it into the second most valuable company in the world. The early days of the platform was far from perfect, but already at that stage Mac OS X was called “tremendous promising”. Ars Technica noted in its extensive review of Mac OS X 10.0.0:

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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!

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 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.

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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After earthquake happened in Japan lots of people gathered around Apple Stores to use the internet connections. Using Skype and FaceTime, victims were able to contact family members.

Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones," the manager wrote, noting that the Apple retail stores are some of the only locations to offer free Wi-Fi in Japan. "Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world.

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Apple has seeded a new 8th version of Mac OS X 10.6.7, termed Build 10J869, to developers for testing. According to those familiar with the new build, Apple doesn’t list known issues keeps asking developers to focus their testing on Safari, Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers. Very little change in file size leads us to think the final release of the OS update is nearing completion.

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine Bon Jovi said that he hates iTunes and thinks that Steve Jobs is responsible for killing the music business. Actually, according to Bon Jovi the man just took away the magic of buying physical records and firing up your walkman.

Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it. God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’. Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.