News from category ‘rumors’

Honestly, from this distance it's hard to tell what's going on, but 9 to 5 Mac says we're looking at a next-gen camera-equipped iPad fielded specifically to test video calls. The shot shows the unit in a Video Call debugging mode, hinting at FaceTime. This same mode was noted in the leaked iPhone 4 shots earlier this year. Additionally, The iPad 2 is also rumored to have a retina display.

Now that iPod touch has gotten a camera and FaceTime, can iPad really be far behind?

iTunes 10 appears to be lacking the ability to create ringtones from songs purchased from the iTunes Store. The feature had allowed users to select iTunes-purchased songs from their libraries, trim them down to desired ringtone lengths, and purchase the resulting custom ringtones for $0.99 each.

After looking around in the application, it seems that ringtone creation has been pulled from iTunes 10. We checked iTunes and were met with only information on how to sync ringtones from iTunes. A support document outlining the process for creating a custom ringtone in iTunes is still posted on Apple's site despite the fact that the feature no longer exists in the updated iTunes.

Custom ringtone creation was added to iTunes in September 2007.

Steve Jobs and the main US version of Apple.com reveal that iOS 4.1. for iPod touch and iPhone will be released sometime “next week”, but Apple.com/uk has actually claimed that the date is September 8, Wednesday.

Download the iOS 4.1 Software Update. Available on 8 September.

Is it an accident, a mistake or the actual truth? We are sure to find out in a couple of days!

Steve Jobs might announce something yesterday he wasn’t supposed to. At yesterday’s event, Jobs indicated that iOS 4.2 would include all of the features included in versions 4.0 and 4.1 for the iPhone. When the iPad’s iOS is updated this November to version 4.2 it will be the first significant upgrade for the device since it debuted last spring.

Would that include HDR photography? If so, this would mean that at some point the iPad will be getting a camera. Perhaps Jobs was simply lost in the moment and meant nothing with his comment. But let’s be honest: Would anyone be surprised to hear that the iPad is getting a camera?

Come on, lets face it: there are a lot of bad apps available in the App Store. Some would say crappy apps! Even with Apple’s strict app approval process, if a developer creates something stupid, it can still find its way into the App Store.

Now, there is a website that highlights the best of the worst apps available. Created by Josh Helfferich (who hosts the popular website, iPad Apps That Don’t Suck), Crapptastic “celebrates the hilarity that is the iTunes App Store.”

The site just debuted, so there isn’t much there. Still, with sites called “Horse Trailer World” and “Listen to the pig” already included, I can’t wait to see what is added soon!

Intel will increase its presence in the mobile phone market with the announced $1.4 billion acquisition of the wireless division of Infineon, a significant component supplier for Apple's iPhone.

Intel and Infineon announced  that they had agreed to the deal, in which Intel will own the wireless business of Germany's Infineon Technologies in exchange for $1.4 billion in cash. The deal pertains to a range of wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi, 3G, WiMAX and LTE. Infineon makes the baseband chip found in the iPhone, and the company has had a strong partnership with Apple, supplying chipsets for Apple's smartphone since it was first released in 2007.

A new lawsuit takes aim at the accelerometer- and gyroscope-powered abilities of Apple's iPhone 4, alleging that the interactive, three-dimensional input methods are in violation of a U.S. patent. The lawsuit, filed this week by Triton Tech of Texas, names both Apple and Nintendo as defendants. Triton is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 5,181,181, entitled "Computer Apparatus Input Device for Three-Dimensional Information."

That patent describes a handheld device that includes multiple accelerometers and angular rate sensors for detecting positioning and motion. By interpreting acceleration, velocity and relative position of the device, it can allow users to interact with a computer or other device with six degrees of motion in a three-dimensional space.

Triton's lawsuit only specifically singles out the iPhone 4 from Apple as an infringing device, though it implies that other devices could be in violation. Apple's iPod touch and iPad also include accelerometers that are used for input.

Apple’s Special Event kicks off tomorrow, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. This annual media event usually focuses on the iPod line, but recent rumors suggest that there might be other topics covered as well. Let’s see a brief summary of what we might expect tomorrow.

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Telcel, a Mexican mobile operator, claims that the iPhones 4 coming out in late September won’t have the infamous antenna problem anymore.

Until September 30, Telcel customers (as well as US users) can still get free iPhone 4 cases. Meanwhile, Apple have been working hard on solving the problem, trying to find a hardware solution that won’t hide the antenna but will either react differently with skin or coat the antenna.

Although still only a rumor, it’s an interesting and promising announcement.

Apple has posted a new job listing looking for a marketing manager specifically for the iBookstore. The listing seeks an experienced business marketer "to drive awareness and sales of iBooks through co-marketing programs with publishers and authors, strategic partnerships, and via online and direct marketing tactics." It seems like a lot of the position will be self-driven, as whoever's chosen will be asked to come up with some interesting schemes to push iBook sales, both with publishers, and even across the other divisions of iTunes. But the bottom line is of course sales -- Apple wants someone to push iBooks, specifically in the US.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have created a display with nanometer-thin sheets of metal (called nanoresonators) that use slits to create pixels eight times smaller than the pixels currently on the iPhone 4. To show off their work, the University of Michigan researchers created their school's logo on a display only 9 microns tall (a strand of human hair is about 100 microns wide).

Crazy. You have to wonder what an iPhone-sized display would look like with a resolution like that (or if we'd even tell the difference, given that our eyes have a limit on the amount of detail they can discern). Obviously, such  display would probably cost a lot more than the iPhone 4 actually does.

iTunes users will be able to sample a minute of a song before purchasing. Currently, iTunes song samples are limited to 30 seconds.

The report said that the addition of more sample time is one of a number of expected changes to iTunes, aimed at helping users discover music. It is rumored that Apple will spend "a large part" of its 1st September  special event detailing how the new iTunes improves the user experience. But Apple is not expected to introduce a cloud-based iTunes service, which would allow users to stream music to devices such as the iPhone.

Apple and its  iAds mobile advertising service are the target of a new lawsuit from a company that owns a patent related to location-based ads. Apple was named in the lawsuit from StreetSpace, along with Quattro Wireless, which is now being phased out in favor of iAds. Other defendants include Google, AdMob, Nokia, Navteq, Millenial Media and Jumptap.

StreetSpace is the creator of a remote Internet terminal the Web Station. Users can walk up to one of these terminals to access the Internet, and are delivered targeted advertisements in the process. The suit alleges that iAds service, launched on July 1, is in violation of StreetSpace patent because it delivers personalized advertisements based on a user's location, profile and usage history.

Related to that invention is U.S. Patent No. 6,847,969, which StreetSpace has alleged Apple is in violation of. Named "Method and System for Providing Personalized Online Services and Advertisements in Public Spaces," it was granted on Jan. 25, 2005.

Apple’s Special Event is just 2 days away, and fresh iPod rumors appear each day. Late last week there was a leak of information about a smaller iPod nano. Now there are more images from Asian websites showing screen protectors and additional cases, supposedly for a next-generation iPod nano as well.

One of the images is detailed enough, so we can try to establish some of the main features of the forthcoming device. In the edge of case there is a long slot that is certainly meant for Apple’s dock-connector, expected in the new iPod nano. The opposite edge is occupied by an elongated hole – most probably the slot for the on/off buton or the hold switch, like we can see on the already-existing iPod models.

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Dan Wineman’s concept, above, for an iOS-powered Apple TV/iTV remote that’s essentially an iPod touch without the screen, is interesting. Same accelerometer/gyro, same multitouch, same home button.

Such remote is gesture-based. Tap to pause, swipe left to rewind, swipe right to fast-forward. Slide up or down to adjust volume. Home key to exit to the menu, which you navigate by flicking and tapping.

John Gruber still isn’t sure if any intermediated device could work (though given you’ll be sitting 10 feet away, one certainly will have to). But the idea is pretty interesting. And if Apple does go for something like this, however, you just know they’d call it Magic iRemote.