Color and detail handling Blu-ray (right) and iTunes 1080p (left)
Last week Ars Technica reported on the compression technology being utilized by Apple with the new 1080p video content available on the iTunes Store. This technology has allowed the company to increase file sizes by 15-25% in comparison to 720p while more than doubling the number of pixels. Now Ars Technica published a new analysis comparing relative quality of 1080p iTunes content with Blu-ray format.
Hebrew-language newspaper Calcalist now reports that Apple and Anobit, which was acquired by Apple late last year, are actively recruiting workers for the company's research operations in Israel. That goes against the rumors claiming that the downsizing was said to be part of the acquisition, as some of Anobit's employees were no longer needed at the company.
According to the report, Anobit has changed its name to HDC (R&D center in Herzliya). The company's former president, Airel Maislos, is believed to be the new senior executive at Apple's development center.
According to Bloomberg, Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust investigators subpoenaed Apple requesting details on the company’s agreement with Google, according to which Google has become the default search engines on iOS devices. Reportedly, last year Google has paid Apple $1 billion in the iOS search agreement, and the subpoena is part of an antitrust investigation that is currently conducted over Google’s business practices.
Last month analyst from Piper Jaffray Gene Munster said that Apple was investigating offerings of components for its rumored television set, contacting suppliers to find out what production capabilities they can provide.
According to Business Insider, a new report from analyst from Jeffries & Co. PeterMisek claims that "small quantities" of different components is shipped to Apple’s suppliers of television display panels. Misek expects that Apple will start commercial production of its TV set in May or June, with the release coming in the fourth quarter of 2012.
In a new report IDG News claims that Intel is currently working on shifting its Thunderbolt standard to the PCI-Express 3.0 protocol. Such move means that the company could double data transfer speeds comparing with the existing implementations based on PCIe 2.0 protocol.
Intel in the future will support the PCI-Express 3.0 protocol to shuttle data faster between host devices and peripherals, an Intel spokesman said in an email. Computers with Thunderbolt interconnect currently communicate with external devices using the older PCI-Express 2.0 technology.
The company will incorporate PCI-Express 3.0 in Thunderbolt, but could not provide a time frame for when it will be accomplished.
French newspaper Le Figaro reports (via Business Insider) that Virgin is going to vacate its retail outlet on Champs-Élysées in Paris and Apple is one of the main candidates said to be interesting in occupying the spot. The Virgin store covers nearly 75,000 square feet, with about 50,000 square feet dedicated to the sales floor.
According to The Inquirer report, Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips known as Xeon E5 are set to launch next week. The report notes that server chips are in the distribution network for several weeks now.
DigiTimes reports that Apple is going to release a new 8 GB iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3 next week, presumably seeking to cut costs to make the model as affordable as possible while differentiating the model from the iPad 3. Apple used similar strategy for the last generations of iPhones, where it has discontinues 16 GB and 32 GB iPhones being updated and introduced an 8 GB iPhone as a low-end option for users.
Today Marvel Comics announced that comic fans across the globe can now purchase its classic graphic novels via the iBooks app.
The publisher said that with the release of its iconic stories on the free iOS e-book app the company moved into a bold new era in digital comic books. Marvel wrote on its website:
TechCrunch reports that True Knowledge, a company behind a popular Siri-like app for iOS devices, received a call from Apple, who informed that the company is going to remove Evi from the App Store due to its similarities with Siri.
Today the California Attorney General's office announced that Google, Apple Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, Research In Motion and Microsoft have agreed to meet new requirements in notifying users of app’s privacy policy.
According to Associated Press, Chinese court has decided against Apple in its ongoing dispute with Proview over the trademark rights to the "iPad" in that country, ruling that distributors should cease selling iPad in China. However, the impact of the decision is unclear as it just one of several lawsuits that Proview has filed against Apple seeking to extract $2 billion for these rights.
According to ChinaTimes report, Apple has ordered 65 million 2048×1536 Retina displays for iPad 3 from Samsung and LG. Reportedly both companies have already begun production. However it is unclear if this number covers orders to Sharp, which is also rumored to be manufacturing displays for coming iPad 3.
According to Digitimes, one of the major Apple’s manufacturing partners Pegatron has ceased production of ASUS’ Zenbooks over pressure from Apple. Digitimes notes that Apple is displeased with similarities in design between MacBook Air and Zenbooks and asked Pegatron to stop production of these notebooks or it will lose orders for manufacturing of iOS devices.