News from category ‘Official’

Boy Genius Report’s source claims that Apple almost completes the final field testing of a tweaked version of the iPhone 4, known as "iPhone3,2", which is expected to be the Verizon or CDMA-compatible iPhone 4 model. The iPhone3,2 will have similar SIM card slot to iPhone 4 slot, which is not suitable for CDMA phone. Perhaps, Apple is going to release model, which will provide support for both GSM and CDMA and will be compatible with all carriers. The source also reports that the fifth-generation iPhone has entered the "engineering verification test" stage, which the CDMA-based iPhone 4 completed in May.

A German research group presented a concept of an “autonomous car”.  This is a car, which drives itself, using special equipment to monitor road and environment. It is controlled by an iPad application. First of all, he iPad finds your location via GPS and sends it to the car. The autonomous cab can find you, pick you up, and take you wherever you want. Moreover, you may track the cab’s movement and scanner information directly from the iPad.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week Motorola filed another complaint in a U.S. District Court in Delaware. Current company's approach is to invalidate 11 patents that were awarded to NeXT Software and Apple (which are both known to be founded by Steve Jobs).

It is said in Motorola's suit that these patents were named in Apple's complaints against HTC and other handset makers that use Google's Android OS in their smartphones. That explains why company wants to prove that these patents are invalid.

Here is the list of the patents that were named in the lawsuit:

Read the rest of this entry »

Designer Robert Potter has created the Earos Earcushion device – quite unusual contraction to make comfortable separation between your ear and iPhone. It may be used to provide convenient padding to your ear as well as display stand. The thing is universal; it hooks it up to most phone models. It rotates on two sided to provide access to a screen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tethering settings were added to 3G iPads after iOS 4.2 beta 2 for iPad was released. It may mean that Apple was going to add iPhone-like tethering to WiFi + 3G models of the iPad. But in newly realized iPad 4.2 beta 3 was discovered that Apple had removed such settings (see picture, earlier the tethering options were under the ‘Cellular Data’ fields). May be we will see these features in new iOS 4.2 in November or may be it was only mistake, and Apple is not planned for a future iPad software release.

Apple’s iPad is so popular round the world, and it’s not surprisingly that people from the areas that Apple hasn’t yet reached, want to obtain this device. Sometime they have to trip pretty long distances to get it.

Read the rest of this entry »

The very rare iPhone 4 was noticed in New York this week. The device is not available in stores, but seems to be stacked up at Apple headquarters. The Apple Blog photographed a man using the white version of the iPhone 4 at a press event this week. The owner of the device, who didn't want to be identified, said he got the white iPhone and from a friend, who works at Apple. He explained why the public can’t have this one. The main reason is the color. Apple’s manufactures can't get the white home button to match the exact shade of the white faceplate of the phone.

Read the rest of this entry »

It is reported that Apple issued invitations for "Back to the Mac" special media event to be held next Wednesday, October 20th  at the company's campus in Cupertino, California. This time the invitation contains an image of a lion peeking out from behind the Apple logo. It conveys the suggestion that Apple is going to seed a new Mac OS X 10.7. The next-generation operating system is commonly suggested being named as “Lion”. Also it is expected that the company's media event may focus on notebooks if new hardware is included on the agenda. Apple has refreshed at least a portion of its notebook line each October or November for the last several years.

Apple seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.5, termed Build 10H555, to its Mac developer community for testing. There are no documented known issues with the update. This time Apple asks developers to pay particular attention on testing of 3D Graphics, Printing, QuickTime, Time Machine, and USB Devices. Mac OS X 10.6.5 is expected to arrive any time in the next few weeks.

Earlier this week new version of Skype 5.0 with Facebook integration was unveiled for Windows. But the official Skype for Mac blog claims that the next version of Skype for Mac with group video calling is "coming soon" too. The blog don’t mention Facebook integration, but it notes that the next version of Skype for Mac will be totally overhauled, have new appearance and functionality.

Here you may see the picture of two identical world's most expensive phones, made for an Australian businessman. Each handset includes over 500 diamonds covering the edges, the Apple logo. Home button is covered by two interchangeable diamonds; a single cut 7.4-carat pink diamond and a rare 8-carat single cut flawless diamond. Total weight of these individual flawless cut diamonds is over 100-carats. The phones come in a box made from a single 7kg block of granite, lined with top grain leather. Its total cost is £5 million - nearly 8 million dollars.

It is reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will gift the iPods to each of the Chilean miners rescued from deep beneath the Earth. Jobs has become one of the vast number of benefactors, who are impressed at the courage and inner power of the 33 Chile’s miners. They survived 68 days being literally buried alive. Le Figaro magazine claims that the iPods are the “personal gifts from Steve Jobs.” Now we don’t have any information about its model, but we believe it will be a top-of-the-range iPod touch 4G.

Yesterday calendar web-application for MobileMe exited its beta stage and became available to all members. To start using the new version members should sign in to me.com/calendar, then click the "Upgrade now" button and follow the instructions. Those users who had tested the beta version of the product will receive the update automatically.

According to Apple, the new MobileMe Calendar is even more integrated with the calendar app in iOS devices. It is also regularly synced with a Mac or PC so the data will always be up-to-date. Any changes made by user are also automatically pushed to the mobile device.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday Verizon and AT&T announced that the iPad will appear in their retail stores in two weeks, on October 28th.

Verizon will be offering only WiFi-enabled iPads that will be optionally bundled with MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot Routers (which is showed on the image above). The latter allows up to five users to access the Verizon Wireless 3G Mobile Broadband Network via Wi-Fi. The monthly data access plan for 1 GB of data will cost 20$/month.

Chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless John Stratton is excited about this new offer:

Read the rest of this entry »

Today Apple announced that on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 9 a.m. a new Apple Retail Store, which is situated in Saint Louis, Missouri, will be opened. It is known that the store with 55-foot wide storefront and 6,000 square-feet of space is "completely redesigned" and features new 592 square-feet lounge area. It will also offer Wi-Fi for free and customers will have an ability to check in to Genius bar appointments. Thus, the St. Louis Galleria Apple Store will become the biggest mall-based Apple Store in the USA.

In the newsletter Apple also informed that the first thousand of visitors will receive Apple T-shirts for free.