News tagged ‘ebook’

Few days ago Apple filed 4 patents about methods of cooling its devices. Company's products have never been known for the problems of overheating but we can definitely assume that new versions will be more power hungry and thereafter more heat consumable in the future.

This is a list of new patents:

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Using Flow Sensors”.

The technology is about using sensors that determine air velocity in a device to adjust the fan speeds and computing power.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Through User Interfaces”.

The patent describes using input/output ports to increase airflow through a device.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices Using Conductive Hinge Assemblies”.

The talk is about using notebook screen's hinges as heat exchangers.

• “Methods and Apparatus for Cooling Electronic Devices using Thermoelectric Cooling Components”.

The document explains using Peltier Effect for active components cooling.

During the iPad presentation, Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted that it would offer a better experience than a smartphone and a notebook computer in the following areas:

• Browsing
• Email
• Photos
• Videos
• Music
• Games
• eBooks

Apple recently aired iPad ad during the Oscars, which perfectly reflects this. Tuaw analyzed the video based on the on-air time dedicated to a particular function. It showed that a particular focus was on media consumption appeal and differentiation.

About 80% of all 720 frames (30 seconds * 24 fps) of the iPad's ad showed an app being used. And within this time, the photo app was shown the most (26%), the mail app came in second (22%). iBook app used 20% of time to position the iPad as a perfect eBook reader.

Changewave published their latest iPad survey findings today. Quite interesting. For example, only 37% of iPad buyers are going to read ebooks, while 68% will use it for internet surfing. Take a look at other results:

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According to Gartner, PC shipments will increase worldwide from 305.8 mln. devices in 2009, to 366.1 mln. units shipped in 2010. The figures comprise not only traditional laptops and PC towers, but tablets and notebooks as well.

The variety of applications force vendors to provide users with something else rather than conventional general-purpose-PC-with-fast CPU approach. The new Apple's iPad belongs to the devices that will not only change PC ecosystem, but also overlap it with mobile phone industry. According to Gartner estimates, up to 10.5 mln. tablets (including new-generation devices) will be shipped in 2010. Analysts from Wall Street predict that iPad shipments will equal 5 mln. in 2010.

Penguin, one of the biggest publishers, gave a very interesting presentation in London. Penguin CEO John Makinson spoke about eBooks, iPad Books and Apps.

Penguin is not using the ePub format for books, rather building the applications in html according to Makinson:

"We will be embedding audio, video and streaming in to everything we do. The .epub format, which is the standard for ebooks at the present, is designed to support traditional narrative text, but not this cool stuff that we’re now talking about".

"So for the time being at least we’ll be creating a lot of our content as applications, for sale on app stores and HTML, rather than in ebooks. The definition of the book itself is up for grabs".

"We don’t know whether a video introduction will be valuable to a consumer. We will only find answers to these questions by trial and error."

Makinson sees ebooks hitting 10% of book sales next year (up from 4%). Take a look at the video:

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"Icons" Pop Art exhibition was opened on the day when most New Yorkers were preoccupied with St. Valentines’s Day bustle. The 15 000 square feet installation room houses the photos not only of Steve Jobs but other renowned persons as well. His photo is placed beside that of Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook creator) and Bill Gates (Microsoft CEO). Although Jobs doesn't seemed to be very enthusiastic of his second row placement.

Last year’s installation was called "The Holy Trinity” and immortalized such personalities as El Jobso hung between Linus Torvalds (Linux creator) and Bill Gates.

This exhibition features the four luminaries who resemble more the wanted posters rather than pop art celebrities.

It will run till late March.

Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope recently met with Apple executives:

Apple wants the iPad to be the best device for a few key use cases. For instance, the company believes it could eventually be seen as superior to both handheld and notebook devices for browsing the Internet, using the App Store, and consuming mobile media (video, photos, and e-books). Nevertheless, in other areas, notebooks, the iPhone, or an iPod may be more appropriate. This clear segmentation of capabilities suggests that cannibalization may be less of a concern than most currently believe.

Shope writes about the price:

it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially, management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated).

Sounds great. What do you think about $200 iPad? Would you buy one?

Debra Shinder from TechRepublic posted an article about 10 reasons why she won’t buy an iPad. As time passes by her thoughts provoke more and more passionate discussions on this topic. So here are these 10 reasons:

1. There is no physical keyboard (or you need to buy an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard).
2. One size doesn’t fit all (it doesn’t fill the gap between mobiles and netbooks as 9.7” inches is an exact screen size of netbook, and you cannot put it into your pocket).
3. It runs iPhone OS (so there is no multi-tasking).
4. There’s not enough storage (and you cannot expand it via USB-flashdrives).
5. There’s no HDMI output or camera (if you can watch video, why you can’t make videoconferences with your friends?).
6. There are no USB ports (and you would not be able to connect your own web-cam, for example).
7. There is no flash memory slot.
8. The price is not right (it just seems to be illogical to pay 200$ for additional 48 GB )
9. It is locked in. All apps are in AppStore, and good ones cost money.
10. It is all about network (why should people change their internet provider to AT&T just because of purchasing some new device?).

While Debra compares fully-equipped 829$ iPad with a powerful and though compact laptop, it seems like she’s looking for an ability to make use of all its capacities. On the other hand, TUAW critics and Apple fans say that iPad is designed to be an enhanced ebook-reader that makes it easy to handle everyday operations like checking e-mails or surfing the web.

What do you think?

Here is our live blog from Apple's event:

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Google today announced the launch of its Nexus One smartphone. It is based on the Android 2.1 operating system and offers 800x480 screen, 5 megapixel camera with flash,  Qualcomm's 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The Nexus One offers 512 MB of Flash and 512 MB of RAM, and ships with a 4 GB Micro SD card with support for cards up to 32 GB.

Nexus One is initially available from the Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA. In the near future, Verizon Wireless in the US and Vodafone in Europe plan to offer similar service plans.

Here is the full list of hardware and software features:

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MacWorld has listed their 20 favorite apps of the year for the iPhone and iPod touch. With over 100,000 apps in the App Store, MacWorld focused on 20 categories and narrowed it down to the best performer in each category.

Here is the list:

Best Messaging App: BeeJive IM
Best Photo App: Best Camera
Best Notification App: Boxcar
Best News App: CNN Mobile
Best Book App: Eucalyptus
Best Social Networking App: Facebook 3
Best Casual Game: Flight Control
Best Search Tool: Google Mobile App
Best Reference App: iBird Explorer Plus
Best Reader: Instapaper Pro 2
Best Multimedia App: MLB.com At Bat 2009
Best Education App: Pocket Universe
Best E-Mail App: Postage
Best Designed Game: Ramp Champ
Best Sports Game: Real Soccer 2010
Best Shopping Tool: RedLaser
Best Platform Game: Rolando 2
Best Strategy Game: Strategery
Best Twitter Client: Tweetie 2

You can read a bit more about these apps MacWorld's site.

Apple has approved iVideoCamera, an application which lets you record video on any iPhone including the iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G. Now you don't need a 3GS to record and share videos with your friends and family. Works with firmware 3.1 OS installed and includes:

Ability to save to your camera roll or "Photos" and share via:

• FaceBook
• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Twitter and more coming soon

Limitations:

• The iPhone can only capture about 3 frames per second
• Videos are limited to about 1 minute in length
• Resolution is low: 160x213

You can purchase iVideoCamera in App Store for $0.99 (link).

This is a great step forward, because Apple did not allow such apps to be in Appstore before. The quality of the recorded video is quite low, however it might be improved in the future. Could the acceptance of iVideoCamera open the door for Cycorder, popular video recording app that can be installed via Cydia?

Phil Shiller, Apple Senior Vice President of Marketing, was asked what his favorite iPhone Apps were, and here’s what he said:

• Shazam [Free - iTunes link]: “There’s just something so amazing about being anywhere, and some music starts playing and you just hold up your phone and can find out what it is,” Mr. Schiller said. “You never again have to say ‘That’s a great song! Who is it by?”
• CNN News [$1.99 - iTunes link]: “It’s really cool having the news in your pocket.”
• Facebook [Free - iTunes link]
• MLB.com at Bat 2009 [Currently free - iTunes link]
• NBA Game Time 2009 [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• ESPN ScoreCenter [Free - iTunes link]
• Eliminate Pro [Free - iTunes link]
• geoDefense [$1.99 - iTunes link]
• Best Camera [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Great apps!

Apple today posted two new iPhone commercials to its ad gallery and also began airing them on prime-time television. Here is a list of applications, that are used in these videos:

Song
- Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals [App Store, $7.99]
- Credit Card Terminal [App Store, $0.99]
- Facebook [App Store, Free]
- The Sims 3 [App Store, $6.99]
- Redfin Real Estate [App Store, Free]
- Shazam [App Store, Free]

Gift
- Target [App Store, Free]
- ColorChange [App Store, $2.99]
- The Snow Report [App Store, Free]
- Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition [App Store, $4.99]
- HotelPal [App Store, Free]
- Zipcar [App Store, Free]

Watch the videos:

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With internet tethering enabled you can use iPhone internet connection on you desktop or notebook. Here is a quick tutorial for experienced users. For everybody else - just wait for the new version of PwnageTool or some other utility.

Here it is:

A bsdiff patch to apply to CommCenter in 3.1.2 to re-enable tethering is available here for the 3GS and here for the 3G. It's just a 2-byte patch as shown below (and an appropriate readjusting of the mach-o's codesign hash):

USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK! Your carrier may end up charging you for unauthorized tethering access.

Update #1 It looks like a lot of people have been looking at CommCenter lately because IRC user CleanAir had a similar tethering patch. Meanwhile over in the 2G CommCenter, WhiteRat and geniusan have patched in native MMS support for that platform. Kudos to CleanAir, WhiteRat, and geniusan for digging into CommCenter and coming up with patches!

Update #2 A few tutorials have started to pop up. Eventually this will be made a part of the normal PwnageTool flow but for now this is best left for the adventurous users out there!

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