Apple Stores will soon carry stock of the revolutionary Nest learning thermostat. According to sources, the Nest thermostat is being delivered to Apple Stores nationwide and may go on sale as early as next week. The Nest thermostat has already been given its own Apple part number and is set to be sold at the same price as Nest’s online store at $249.99.

Today, a trusted source was able to provide a first hand look at the Nest packaged at an Apple Store today, complete with the part number. Priced at $249.99 (the same as Nest’s price through Nest’s online store), the Nest has a part number of H9279ll/a in Apple’s systems.

According to Nest, the thermostat takes roughly a week to pick up on your energy routines and adjusts your temperature accordingly. A display changes colors to red or blue to distinguish between heating and cooling, and the design is very Apple-like. The greatest part about the Nest Learning Thermostat is the iOS app for your iPhone or iPad, letting your remotely adjust Nest's settings and get all the vital information you need on-the-go.

If you have been thinking about picking up a Nest learning thermostat, you will soon be able to see one in the flesh at your local Apple Store.

Source: 9to5 Mac

A new video has surfaced that gives us an extremely rare look at the iPhone assembly line within a Foxconn factory. Seeing one of these lines in action is a very rare occurrence as Apple is well known for keeping its production processes and products secret. The video is shot in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant where over seventy percent of Apple’s iPhones are now made.

The video which is provided by iFeng, shows a Chinese reporter with Foxconn CEO Terry Gou taking a tour around the extensive factory. The tour starts in a helicopter to give an idea on the sheer size of this huge factory. It covers 5.6 square kilometers (2.2 Square miles) with more expansion planned and employs around 115,000 workers.

The factory part of the tour starts off in the iPhone 4S production line where you can see the iPhone 4S frame and motherboard. The motherboard line is 148 meters long and rolls out 10,000 units a day. The tour continues into the camera assembly area which is all done in a clean room environment.

You can watch the video below, the dialogue is all in Chinese and we don't have a translation yet.

Source: TNW via MIC Gadget

Not too long ago, Apple announced that they would be dishing out $2.65 per share to regular Apple stockholders, but even those within Apple that own restricted stock units will be getting a little something. By way of a securities filing, Apple has announced that those with RSUs (which aren't normally eligible for dividends) will get dividend equivalents, though with all of the same vesting periods, taxes, and other restrictions as usual. Interestingly enough, Apple CEO Tim Cook has declined to participate in the dividend equivalents, which would have netted him around $75 million.

The idea here is that Apple wants to make sure that employees remain properly incentivized by stock options, and have just as much of a vested interest in Apple's success as any other shareholder. As for Tim Cook turning down $75 million (before taxes, mind you), the gut reaction is to slather on praise, but considering he just cashed in a whole bunch of stock, money probably isn't a top concern right now, and the good will towards his employees is invaluable.

Source: MacRumors

Apple has made some minor changes to the layout of the App Store within iTunes; the same changes are reflected on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. With such a huge number of apps now available in the App Store finding what you are looking has gone from hit and miss to downright daunting. Apple has been rumored to be completely revamping its iTunes software but in the meantime, they're still tweaking what we have now.

When you visit the App Store you will now see two new features -- Editor’s Choice and App of the Week. Editor’s choice looks to have taken the place of the previous iPhone and iPad App of the Week. This week’s editor’s choices for the UK are The Thames, Air Mail, and Extreme Skater. In the U.S. different apps have been chosen and they are Facebook Camera (fairly fast, given it was only released yesterday...), Sketchbook and again Chillingo’s Air Mail.

The App of the Week for this week is Cut the Rope: Experiments. Apple’s App Store twitter account tweeted the information and included a new hashtag “#FreeAppoftheWeek”. We don’t know if the App of the Week will always be a free app, if it will be a paid app on temporary sale for free, or if -- as we assume -- it won’t always be free and that it will still be any app, paid or free.

These new changes may make things slightly easier to find apps that maybe of  interest to you but the App Store still has a long way to go before it becomes a great experience. Hopefully the rumors of an iTunes redesign will turn out to be true and Apple will use the acquisition of Chomp to offer a better version of the App Store; until then, we will take any improvements we can get.

Source: Touch Arcade

Apple's Apple's Senior Vice President of Design, Jonathan Ive deservedly became Sir Jonathan Ive on Wednesday when he received a knighthood for services to design and enterprise. The Princess Royal was on hand to perform the ceremony which hit news channels around the world. After the knighthood ceremony Sir Jonathan Ive attended another high profile function, the Royal Academy of the Arts alongside the Queen. Ive gave a short interview before going inside, telling of his delight at receiving the honor.

“I have always felt that I am extremely fortunate to have found what I love to do, and that’s essentially to be able to draw and make stuff.”  “So to actually be able to spend all of my time doing that, just that alone is fantastic but to then get some recognition for that is a wonderful affirmation of the craft and profession of design.”

Source: YouTube

A recent feature in Fortune took a deep dive into how Tim Cook has been changing Apple's inner-workers, corporate culture, and relationships with the outside world. The general conclusion, gleaned from many anonymous Apple employees, is that things are drifting more towards traditional, stiff corporate lifestyle, which is welcomed by some, but not by others.

For example, any significant meetings have project management and global supply management in attendance, which marks a decided shift in emphasis away from engineers. Cook's repertoire with shareholders and  financial types has lead to heretofore unseen initiatives like quarterly dividends and stock buybacks. As an operations guy, Cook has also spent a lot of energy dealing with Foxconn and the whole mess of PR headaches that seem to perpetually haunt Apple's major manufacturing partner. Despite tightening up some of the corporate reins, Cook is reportedly very down to earth and lacking the gigantic ego of Steve Jobs; for example, Cook is perfectly happy to sit down with random employees in the cafeteria, which is something you would never expect Apple's late CEO to do.

It's interesting to hear about these kinds of subtle but important changes inside of Apple, and one can only wonder how they'll shape the next iPhone. Cook worked with Jobs for years, and obviously had the sane passion for great products, but rather than being fanatical and single-minded, Cook is starting to come off as cool and methodical. Such an attitude might leave something to be desired when it comes to stage presence, and produce slightly contrived ads peppered with celebrities, but at the very least, it should keep Apple rolling steadily onwards.

Do you guys worry at all that Apple will suffer in the long term without  a brilliant visionary at the helm, or can lead designer Jony Ive keep the magic flowing on his own?

Source: Fortune

GameFly is looking to branch out into mobile gaming but instead of its usual rental model, it is looking to get developers on-board from a much earlier stage. The new initiative would see GameFly becoming the publisher and promoter of a developer’s game. GameFly has set aside a fund for game developers who are already working on their next big game but do not have the resources to publish and promote it; GameFly would take care of that side of the games development

"GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best user experience possible, and to be their single destination for console, PC and mobile gaming needs," said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. "We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android and helping to fund mobile developers of all sizes to publish, promote and sell their smartphone and tablet games."

Source: PR Newswire

The annual Millward Brown BrandZ survey was released recently, with Apple holding fast to its number one spot. Apple's brand worth for 2012 actually grew 19% since last year to $183 billion, followed by IBM with $116 billion brand worth, and Google which dropped a down a rank. It's worth noting that telecom and tech brands claimed about 44% of the top 100 chart's value, compared to a third in 2006. Among the carriers, AT&T still claimed a higher brand value than Verizon, but Verizon has a lot more forward momentum. The Brandz survey spanned over 380 categories, and was generated after over 65,000 different brand measurements in 41 countries.

It's not a huge surprise to see Apple's brand value so high, and one would expect the trend to continue well into next year. In fact, the effectiveness of Apple's branding has gotten to the point where competitors can't help but attack the cult-ish mindset in courts. Apple has created an iconic brand with no small help from their marketing efforts, retail locations, and not to mention world-class products. In fact, at this point it's hard to imagine many other companies being able to command the same clout among the masses as Apple has. Seriously, what could other manufacturers even do to  recreate the same kind of mystique as Apple without just looking like a copycat?

Brand value has real tangible returns, and isn't just an indicator of how good Apple is at marketing itself; UBS Research showed not long ago that iPhone users are overwhelmingly the most likely to stick with Apple for their next device out of every smartphone manufacturer. That's part and parcel of having a strong brand.

You can download the full BrandZ 2012 report here, which is actually really, really detailed. Included are a bunch of interesting editorials on marketing across a variety of industries and regional trends.

Source: Reuters

A stolen iPhone is helping its owner close the net on the thief thanks to Apple's iCloud Photo Stream. We assume that Find My iPhone was either not enabled, or was disabled by the thief, but it seems the thief was unaware that Photo Stream was running and cataloging every photograph

Katy McCaffrey had her iPhone stolen on a cruise ship last month. She had lost hope in recovering her smartphone, but then photos started showing up in her Photo Stream. The handy iCloud service automatically uploads photos taken on an iOS device to a feed that can be viewed on other authenticated devices.

Kate has now informed Disney Cruise Line and sent them copies of the photographs; she hopes to get her iPhone returned and maybe some free passes to Disneyland too.

Source: Facebook via Cult of Mac

If you work for IBM, you are welcome to bring your iPhone 4S to work with you but forget about using Apple’s voice driven digital assistant, Siri. IBM has banned the use of Siri on all of its networks due to concerns over privacy. Siri works by sending anything you ask it to a data center in North Carolina; after that, no one really knows exactly what happens with that data once it has been dealt with. Is it deleted once it has been dealt with, is it stored temporarily or is it kept forever?

IBM CIO Jeanette Horan told MIT’s Technology Review this week that her company has banned Siri outright because, according to the magazine, “The company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere.” It turns out that Horan is right to worry. In fact, Apple’s iPhone Software License Agreement spells this out: “When you use Siri or Dictation, the things you say will be recorded and sent to Apple in order to convert what you say into text,” Apple says. Siri collects a bunch of other information — names of people from your address book and other unspecified user data, all to help Siri do a better job.

Siri’s original lead developer Edward Wrenbeck confirms that privacy was always a big concern and the fact that Siri could provide information on your location alone could be enough to violate a non-disclosure agreement. Of course this in no different to many other apps currently available or in fact,  the internet in general.

Do you think IBM is right to be concerned over who can gain access to this information and do you have privacy concerns of your own while using Siri?

Source: Wired

The gTar iPhone powered digital guitar has arrived on Kikstarter and is looking to revolutionize the way you learn to play an electric guitar. The gTar is a fully digital guitar that looks to make playing it easy for anyone. The guitar comes with a place to slot in your iPhone 4 or 4S and works with a companion app which will be available from the App Store. Once loaded, an array of interactive LEDs will illuminate along the fretboard of the guitar showing you where to place your fingers in order to achieve the correct note.

There's nothing like the thrill of playing a real musical instrument. Unfortunately for most, learning can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience. That's why we built the gTar. "If you're ever picked up a guitar for the first time and tried to play a favorite song, you know how discouraging it can be. The gTar completely changes that."

The gTar is digital which means it does not rely on the traditional method of amplifying the sound from vibrating strings. Instead, the gTar has sensors that can detect exactly what you’re playing; the sensors then send the information to the iPhone which reproduces the sound.

The gTar is live on Kickstarter now and has already broken through its funding barrier with 34 days left to go. If you fancy being an early adopter you can make a pledge and be one of the first to get hold of one. Pledges start from $350 and should the gTar make it to full retail sale, it is expected to sell for upwards of $449.

Source: Kickstarter

During the annual Webbys award show nearly a dozen high profile celebrities, politicians, and people of note gave a huge tribute to the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. The tribute was shown on a huge video screen and simultaneously streamed over the web.

John Hodmgan and Justin Long introduced the segment, paying homage to their long-running series of Get a Mac ads, with Hodgman pretending he'd never heard of any other ads from Apple. They then introduced Richard Dreyfuss, who'd narrated the famous Think Different ad.

Dreyfuss preceded his tribute with the internet equivalent of a political statement, telling Mark Zukerberg and Eric Brin [sic] that if they want to take our privacy away, they should tell us all the private details of their private lives, and if they want to change the world, they should pay for it because it's "theft". He then told the audience he wasn't kidding. He returned to that theme later, casting Google and Facebook alongside politicians, car companies, home renovators, and other high tech companies as part of a world "drowing in fraud". He contrasted them with Steve Jobs, who Dreyfuss said "go it". In a world of senselessly, dishonesty, denial, and ignorance, where words are shared by the good and the bad, Dreyfuss said, the difference with Steve Jobs is that he meant it and did it. Again and again. He finished with the five words -- "exception that proves the rule".

Hodgman and Long returned to introduce the video tribute, which featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton, George Lucas, Vint Cerf, Arianna Huffington, Bono, Buzz Aldrin, Sarah Silverman, a group of school children, former U.S. Vice President and Apple board member Al Gore, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and U.S. President Barack Obama all expressing their thanks to Steve Jobs.

Jobs was thanked for a hand held internet, for saving lives with Product Red, for spreading American ingenuity world wide, and for exploring beyond our reach. Al Gore called Jobs "insanely great". Jimmy Fallon said Jobs "made turtle necks sexy again". Stephen Colbert said Jobs thanked Jobs for a "meticulous attention to detail". Barak Obama thanks Jobs for "thinking different", and said that when it came to Jobs only one word was needed -- "amazing".

The Webbys tribute to Steve Jobs is the latest of many that have already seen in the past. We have witnessed similar tributes given at the Grammy's in February and at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. You can see the video below, unfortunately it is Flash only.

Source: CNET

The untethered iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak could be released in a matter of days. Many people have been eagerly awaiting an untethered jailbreak for the latest version of iOS 5.1.1. It has taken a while for it to even look possible never mind become available. Now it appears that the wait may finally be over and it could arrive as early as next week. According to jailbreak developer pod2g.

Thanks to awesome work of @planetbeing and @pimskeks, we're near ready for a release. Now it's a matter of days.

Update: @MuscleNerd has provided some additional information, which he prefaces by saying is tentative and subject to last minute change:

• the initial 5.1.1 plan used a kernel exploit from @westbaer which unfortunately precluded use in iPod3,1 and iPhone2,1
• @planetbeing stepped up and provided a kernel exploit that covers both of those. Those two JBers are the bomb!
• The 5.1.1 A5 JB is very similar to the A5 5.0.1 JB. @pimskeks has done a tremendous job supporting both 5.0.1 and 5.1.1 in absinthe
• Similar to 5.0.1, there will also be a 5.1.1 CLI "cinject" binary and redsn0w version of the 5.1.1 JB+untether. Absinthe, cinject, and redsn0w will all provide the same JB in different fashions.
• timing is indeterminate. Plans are for this week, but a number of factors can influence that.
• For those wishing to donate, we've set up a new 5.1.1 paypal URL: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=s-xclick&hostedbutton_id=4U6DQGJ2NRVUN -> Please don't pirate AppStore apps (seriously, please do not).

There is some good news and bad news with this particular jailbreak. First the bad news -- the new jailbreak tool will still not support the latest 1080p Apple TV. The good news however is pod2g believes that it should work with the new iPad; whichever version you have although testing has not been done on the iPad 3 Global version. The new jailbreak tool hasn't been tested yet on the just released iPad 2 R2 either but again it is believed to work.

I personally can't wait for this to arrive just so I can update some apps that must have iOS 5.1 like the latest versions of iMovie, Pages and Numbers.

Anyone else looking forward to the iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak?

Source: @Pod2g, Pod2g's iOS Blog, MuscleNerd.com

Apple has just announced its line up for the annual iTunes Festival. The event which first started in 2007 has been hugely popular as all of the tickets are given away free of charge. The live concerts all take place at London’s The Roundhouse and it all kicks off on September 1^st and goes on until September 30^th.

Every year since 2007, the iTunes Festival has been bringing you a full month of spectacular live music. Many of the world’s biggest stars and the brightest newcomers have graced the festival stage, and this year’s brilliant line-up includes jack White, One Direction, Norah Jones and more. It will all take place in September 2012 at one of the UK’s best live music venues-the Roundhouse in London.

If you can't make the live shows, you can enjoy all the action live on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch via the iTunes Festival app, as well as on your Mac or PC. The iOS app even supports AirPlay; enabling you to stream the action straight to your Apple TV. Unfortunately, it looks like being exclusively for UK based users as the app is only available in the UK App Store.

Free - Download Now

Source: iTunes Festival

Blackberry maker RIM recently proposed a new nano-SIM card design to counter one proposal made by Apple to the the European Telecommunications Standards Instititute. One of the major points of contention surrounds the use of a SIM tray; Apple wanted to use one, which effectively would impose their SIM tray design on other manufacturers, but it would be interoperable with existing SIM formats since the pin footprint in Apple's layout is exactly the same as the old generation SIM cards. Meanwhile Motorola, RIM, and (until recently) Nokia were pushing a tray-less design with a fingernail catch, not unlike what we see on microSD memory cards. Apple's original nano-SIM design was as long as the old mini SIM was wide, which could easily confuse consumers, lead to jamming, and consequently more repairs and returns. RIM and Motorola's countered that adapters are unreliable and can't hold a card securely against the contacts, but still offered the compromise that you see above.

Despite the compromise offered here by RIM, nobody could agree after an informal vote, which isn't much of a surprise given Apple herded in sympathetic partners to the association. Ultimately, if these guys can't find common ground, it's entirely possible that we'll see two nano SIM standards floating around: one made by Apple, and one used by everybody else. You can imagine what a headache that could be for all parties involved, particularly carriers. It seems like most parties adopted micro SIM without too much of a fight, and that was also a charge led by Apple with the iPhone 4; could the same bullheadedness get other manufacturers to just go along with Apple again? Why is Apple so hell-bent on their particular design anyway? How would carriers side in all of this?

If you're interested in poking around the ETSI documentation, it's all somewhere in here; the particulars of RIM's latest proposal are available here.

Source: The Verge

Sony has hired Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to advise on its upcoming film based on the book  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacsson. Woz will be there to consult on Jobs and on technical aspects of computers. Sony has already hired Aaron Sorkin to write the film and he was also responsible for the recent film based on Facebook, The Social Network as well as television's The West Wing. Unfortunately this project does not seem that straight forward for Sorkin.

"I know so little about what I am going to write. I know what I am not going to write. It can't be a straight ahead biography because it's very difficult to shake the cradle-to-grave structure of a biography, " Sorkin told reporters at a news conference for his upcoming  HBO drama "The Newsroom." Sorkin noted that "The Social Network" saw the Facebook story through the lens of an acrimonious lawsuit that pitted CEO Mark Zuckerberg against his Harvard friends over the creation of the social media network. "Drama is tension versus obstacle. Someone wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it. They want the money, they want the girl, they want to get to Philadelphia - doesn't matter ... And I need to find that event and I will. I just don't know what it is," Sorkin said.

Source: Chicago Tribune Image: Bloomberg

According to J. Crew CEO and current Apple board member, Mickey Drexler, Steve Jobs didn’t just want to re-invent the personal computer, mobile phone, and music industry -- he also wanted to take a stab at the car industry too. In an interview at Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored conference earlier this week, Drexler said that Steve Jobs wanted to build... an iCar.

"Look at the car industry, it's a tragedy in America. Who's designing the cars?" Drexler said. "Steve's dream before he died was to design an iCar and I think it would've been probably 50% of the market. He never did design it."

You can imagine how great that iCar would have been had it come to fruition and you wouldn’t bet against it becoming the leader in the car world either. There would have been no ugly buttons inside, everything would have been simple to operate and elegant. Of course the integration with other Apple devices would have been a thing to behold; sadly it wasn't to be.

Drexler also claimed that Apple would be dealing with the living room in the "near future"; which could be taken as a hint about the often rumored Apple HDTV.

However, neither Drexler no any Apple board member would likely leak real information about unannounced Apple products, so we'll take this as what it is -- a vague, confidence boosting comment with context informed solely based on existing rumor and speculation.

He also went on to say that he wouldn't like to be in Tim Cooks shoes as taking over a successful company is more difficult than taking over one that is failing. (Though Tim Cook certainly seems to have done well enough for Apple so far...)

You can see the full interview in the video below, unfortunatley the video is flash only.

Source: Busines Insider, Apple Insider, Image: Mercedes

Delaware courts have have called for delegates from HTC and Apple to meet on August 28 to talk about settling the patent dispute that has blocked the U.S. import of some HTC handsets. This is all fallout from a pending case Apple against HTC through the International Trade Commission over a "data tapping" patent, whatever that is. Not too long ago, Apple was ordered into similar settlement talks with Samsung, though neither side has managed to secure a U.S. import ban on the other's products just yet. There's no saying how these mediated talks will pan out, if they do at all, but simply showing up and negotiating in good faith in something of a requirement for both parties if when the case continues in court.

Despite the fact that HTC isn't a particularly huge threat among all of the Android manufacturers Apple has faced off against, they've hit up HTC in patent disputes in Germany, the UK, and Florida too. It's likely enough that how this case in Delaware concludes would set a precedent for ongoing and future patent lawsuits between HTC and Apple, and potentially other manufacturers depending on the patents involved.

It would be pretty crazy if Apple managed to at least slow down (if not altogether stop) the import of any of the other major Android manufacturers in the U.S. on top of HTC, but it's hard to imagine a stoppage on anyone as big as, say, Samsung. How would you guys like to see these negotiations pan out -- everyone gets on with it, settles out of court, and continues competing happily in the open market, or everything drags out into a protracted legal battle that potentially reveals some interesting tidbits of info about the manufacturers?

Source: FOSS Patents

Facebook has officially announced their initial public offering on the stock market with ticker symbol FB on the NASDAQ. The starting price will be $38 each of the 421,233,615 common shares, which makes their initial valuation $104 billion -- an awful lot considering they had $3.7 billion in revenue last year. This is the largest internet IPO ever, and the seventh biggest in the world, but what does it mean for Apple?

The first thing that that struck me when I heard about the Facebook IPO was, "Damn, I would really hate to miss the boat on that one and be like one of those guys kicking themselves later for not buying into Apple way back in the early days." Of course, there's plenty of conflict of interest in our spheres when it comes to stuff like that, so I steer clear, but it's something of a moot point considering major investment banks will have first crack at the stock and likely inflate the price well beyond $38 before individuals have a chance to snag some stock. There's also bound to be an inordinate amount of hype that is likely to level off in the first couple of weeks, but you never know -- it could just keep climbing and climbing.

The late Steve Jobs said he admired Mark Zuckerberg for not selling out, and that he thought Facebook was really the only social network worth talking about. Besides that, it's easy to see a lot of similarities between the two -- both experienced a huge amount of success in the technology industry at an early age, both practiced peculiar eating habits, and both dropped out of college (though retained a love of the arts). Zuckerberg's net worth blew past Steve Jobs' long ago; as of March last year, Jobs was worth $8.3 billion, while Zuckerberg was worth $13.5 billion.

Despite the similarities of their CEOs, Apple and Facebook aren't likely to be butting heads any time soon; despite persistent rumors to the contrary the closest thing Facebook has ever been to making a phone was having a branded hardware button on the HTC ChaCha. iTunes has Ping, which is a social network for sharing what music you're listening to, but that hasn't been particularly active in the year and a half since its inception. Interestingly enough, Facebook and Apple had a falling out over Ping integration awhile back, but that seems to be the most volatility we've seen between the companies to date.

That said, while it's unlikely that Facebook's IPO will directly be affecting Apple, the revenue Facebook generates could make the social networking giant even harder to ignore. The last version of iOS included fairly deep Twitter integration, and it would be hard to imagine iOS 6 being announced at WWDC without some significant and similar integration with Facebook. (Something that was rumored to have been attempted, then scrapped as far back as iOS 4.)

How do you guys see the trajectories of these tech giants crossing? Will they keep existing relatively peaceably in their own respective spheres? For a long time, Google and Apple got along well enough in their separate industries, but it didn't take long for them to start bumping into one another; how long until Facebook and Apple start doing the same?

Source: Facebook

Time Warner Cable and Viacom have finally come to an agreement and ended the dispute that has been ongoing for over a year. It started back in April last year when TWCable TV started to receive cease and desist orders from various TV networks over its TWCable TV app. Viacom was the most vocal and it led to TW Cable having to remove lots of channels from the app. Time Warner Cable filed a request for declaratory judgement and a year later appear to have resolved the dispute. We have heard very little since then but subscribers have still missed out on the channels that were removed.

Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed to resolve their pending litigations.  All of Viacom’s programming will now be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers for in-home viewing via internet protocol-enabled devices such as iPads and Time Warner Cable will continue to carry Viacom’s Country Music Television (CMT) programming.  In reaching the settlement agreement, Time Warner Cable and Viacom were also able to resolve other unrelated business matters to their mutual satisfaction.  Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment.

Source: Viacom Blog

Apple's getting sued for Siri being beta, apparently. A class-action lawsuit in Oakland, California is alleging that Apple has been improperly representing Siri in their ads and that the functionality isn't as perfect as Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschenel led them to believe. Apple's reply to the plaintiffs?

They offer only general descriptions of Apple’s advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple’s website materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged—and highly individualized—disappointment with Siri. Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance “soon after” purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty—which remains in effect. Instead, they seek to take an alleged personal grievance about the purported performance of a popular product and turn it into a nationwide class action under California’s consumer protection statutes. The Complaint does not come close to meeting the heavy burden necessary to sustain such claims.

Source: WSJ

Apple looks set to increase the next generation iPhone’s screen size to at least 4-inches according to information coming from people familiar with the situation. According to the sources, Apple has already placed orders for the larger screens from its Asian suppliers and they are bigger than the screens used on the current iPhone.

Production is set to begin next month for the screens, which measure at least 4 inches diagonally compared with 3.5 inches on the iPhone 4S, the latest phone from Apple, the people said.

The rumor states Apple has ordered the larger screens from multiple suppliers, LG, Sharp and Japan Display Inc. Production of the next iPhone is scheduled to start in June with it becoming available at a similar time to last year; sometime in October. We have already heard that Apple is slowing down production of the iPhone 4S in anticipation of the new model iPhone.

The latest rumor does line up with what we heard at the end of last week, namely that if the screen does indeed increase, it would be to a maximum of 4-inches but no larger. We heard Apple hadn't yet decided on a final design, but given both The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are reporting the 4-inch screen size today, that decision could now have been made.

If accurate, several questions remain. Will Apple reduce the size of the current iPhone bezel to allow for a bigger screen, or increase the size of the phone itself, or a bit of both? There's also nothing in these rumors that suggest an aspect ratio change from the current 2:3 to something closer to 16:9, which some other rumors have suggested. That kind of change would be far more problematic for developers than a simple increase in scale.

It would, however, reduce the density of what Apple's has marketed at the Retina display from 326 ppi of the current iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 to 288, which is only slightly better than the new iPad's 264. Not only would buttons and other touch targets be physically bigger, its possible the pixels would once again be visible as well.

The alternative, to increase the amount of pixels, would force old apps to be letterboxed (like iPhone apps are on the iPad), and open the door for the creation of "bigger" apps that wouldn't really work on older iPhones. That's a level of fragmentation Apple hasn't been willing to allow thus far.

Until more information surfaces, or until Phil Schiller holds one up on an Apple event stage, we'll simply have to wait and see.

What's you preference?

Source: WSJ, Reuters

China Mobile has confirmed that it is in talks with Apple over bringing the iPhone officially to its network. China Mobile’s chairman Xi Guohua told its shareholders about the talks although there is still no news if a deal has been agreed.

“China Mobile and Apple both have the will to strengthen cooperation,” Xi said. “When there is more specific news, we will disclose it.”

Source: Bloomberg, Image: Business Week

Update: Loewe has officially denied this report, telling Heise Online that there's "nothing to it." [Heise via TNW]

Apple is rumored to be in talks to acquire high end German HDTV manufacturer Loewe. The news comes from an anonymous source who claims that Apple has offered 87.3 million euros (around $112 million dollars).

A source claims that Loewe "has been advised by its financial advisor to accept the offer and a final decision is scheduled to be announced internally before 18 May 2012."

As well as HDTV sets, Loewe also manufacturers high end AirSpeakers that work with Apple’s AirPlay technology as well as various audio systems with iPod integration. Loewe has also embraced the iPad and has released its own app that makes controlling its Audio/Video products a breeze.

We will keep a close eye on this story and let you know as soon as we hear any more information.

Source: Apple Insider

Seas0nPass, the popular jailbreak tool for the 2010 Apple TV (720p) has just received an update that will allow it to jailbreak the latest Apple TV software. Apple has just released the Apple TV software update taking it to version 5.0.1; it is actually version 5.1.1 inline with other iOS devices but Apple still files the version numbers differently for whatever reason. Unfortunately the jailbreak is a tethered type which means if your device needs to be rebooted, it will need to be plugged into a PC or Mac as part of the reboot process.

Seas0nPass 0.8.4 released. Adds [tethered] support for ver. 5.0.1 (iOS 5.1.1) on ATV2. ATV3 update still in progress

If you have a 2010 Apple TV (720p) and need help jailbreaking it, be sure to check out our full how-to guide.

Source: @firecore

Earlier today a beta version of iCloud.com accidentally leaked 2 new web apps, Notes and Reminders, presumably coming to iCloud web-portal. These apps make perfect sense to be on iCloud.com, as they already sync over iCloud across iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices, and Apple has added them as apps to the upcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

The Reminders and Notes web apps weren't functional, nor was the login, and Apple quickly pulled the beta content offline. In other words, we weren't supposed to see this yet.

If we were to guess, WWDC 2012 would be the logical place for Apple to debut new iCloud features. That's where Steve Jobs debuted iCloud itself last year, and now more than ever the WWDC keynote is Apple's biggest software and services stage.

Unfortunately, there's no sign of Photo Stream yet, which would be nice given the impending loss of MobileMe galleries. Nor is there any sign of iTunes in the Cloud or iTunes Match online access yet.

That's when it will start to become really interesting.

Source: Steve Troughton-Smith

Research firm MMRI has tallied up local mobile sales for 2011 and figured that iPhone has claimed 30% of Japan's smartphone market with 7.3 million units, making it the most popular individual brand of the bunch. In the overall mobile landscape of Japan, iPhone claimed 17% share, which is second only to Fujitsu.

We haven't heard much iPhone news from Japan since the earthquake last year, but the iPhone has been hugely popular there since at least the iPhone 3G days. iOS has managed to do pretty well in the surrounding areas, including Samsung's home turf, Korea. Japan was one of the first international markets to have the new iPad available for sale, and with Apple loyalty like this, it's easy to see why.

Any Japanese iPhone users in the house? How many of your friends are packing an Android handset? Does it line up with the two out of three figure MMRI is suggesting here?

Source: MMRI via Engadget

Earlier this month, Apple filed a complaint with a California judge claiming that Samsung was intentionally destroying documents relevant to their ongoing legal spat. Apparently Samsung only handed over a small number of documents that they were ordered to provide, and Apple claims that deleting e-mails is standard practice for Samsung even when they're in the middle of a lawsuit.

Samsung’s ad hoc, unmonitored email “preservation” methods have resulted in the irretrievable loss of unknown volumes of relevant emails. For example, Judge Grewal recently compelled the deposition of Won Pyo Hong, the head of Samsung’s Product Strategy Team, in part due to an email in which Dr.Hong “directly orders side-by-side comparisons of Apple and Samsung products for design presentations." Apple and the Court cannot possibly know how many more emails Dr. Hong sent or received that would have supported Apple’s claims that Samsung copied Apple products had they not been deleted. The same is true for the many other Samsung witnesses who produced only a handful of emails, or none at all.

Samsung is due to issue a response by May 15, while the complaint is due to be addressed in courts on June 7, though Samsung wants both of those dates pushed back. Apple has previously lodged similar complaints with the ITC, so really, Samsung should already be in a position to address these concerns, but Samsung claims that there's a completely different set of patents and policies in place for for the district of California.

At this point, the patience of judges may be wearing thin; not too long ago, courts asked Samsung and Apple to pare down the number of patent complaints they were leveling at one another. If Samsung is blatantly acting in bad faith, it could easily color the outcome of patent litigation to follow.

Source: Network World

The Brooklyn Tap House is now using a new point of sale system that incorporates both iPads and iPod touches. The Brooklyn Tap House has one of the most extensive ale choices of any establishment that I have seen and now they can all be accessed and ordered using an iPad or iPod touch.

The gastropub has installed a point-of-sale system from Albuquerque-based POSLavu that uses the Apple devices in place of a much more expensive traditional restaurant POS system. The main attraction for the POSLavu system, according to restauranteur and co-owner Hugo Salazar, was the price. Many restaurants use systems from Micros or Aloha that can sport price tags of US$20,000 or more; the bottom line for the devices and software at the Brooklyn Tap House was about $7,000.

Source: TUAW, Brooklyn Tap House

A new case has landed on Kickstarter that looks to take your iPad back in time and turn it into a fully functional Etch A Sketch. In case you have forgotten or are simply not old enough to remember, the Etch A Sketch was launched in the 1960’s and was a small tablet like slab with two knobs; one on each side. One knob drew a vertical line and the other a horizontal line on the screen. Turning both knobs together created a diagonal line.

Everyone can relate to an Etch A Sketch. It's an enduring childhood memory. Now, you can re-experience Etch A Sketch on your iPad--and share the experience with your friends and family. Etcher adds functional knobs to the iPad. As a user turns these knobs, lines appear on the iPad screen, exactly like the original Etch a Sketch. Improving on the original, users can save their drawings in digital format and share with friends and family over email and social media sites like Facebook.

Source: Kickstarter

Foxconn's CEO Terry Gou recently revealed that they intend to split the initial costs of improving factory working conditions with Apple following an extensive third-party audit of the facilities where iPads and iPhones are made.

We've discovered that this (improving factory conditions) is not a cost. It is a competitive strength. I believe Apple sees this as a competitive strength along with us, and so we will split the initial costs.

Gou didn't go into any further detail as to how much these improvements would cost or how much of it Apple would take care of, but it's certainly not uncommon for Apple to invest in Foxconn's facilities. One of the bigger changes at Foxconn facilities has been to dial back overtime hours, which is something not all employees are thrilled about, though Foxconn had promised that wages would go up to counterbalance the loss of hours.

Apple has been very proactive in supporting Foxconn with these changes, and they can't afford not to be; as the mobile industry leader, all eyes on on Apple to find and expose weaknesses, especially if it stands to put a dent in Apple's generally-outstanding public image. The fact is, brutal factory conditions are a natural part of the labor landscape in China, and from the sounds of things, Foxconn is one of the better places to work.

Does Apple deserve a pat on the back for pitching in to support its partner, or is it a responsibility that all smartphone manufacturers should take up?

Source: Reuters

A new, portable fuel cell charger will be available to buy this year and it claims to be able to recharge your iPhone between 10 and 14 times. The small charging device does not need to be recharged by plugging it in; it works with replaceable fuel cell cartridges which can even be carried on planes.

Fuel cell maker Lilliputian Systems today announced that Brookstone will be the first retailer to carry its portable USB power source, which will be sold under Brookstone's brand. The fuel cell device is about the size of a thick smartphone, and the lighter fluid-filled cartridges are about the same size as a cigarette lighter. It's a big step forward both for Lilliputian Systems, a 10-year-old spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for portable fuel cell technology in general. Several fuel cell companies have developed portable power systems, but a number have failed. The new fuel cell will charge any device that has a USB cable.

The charging unit and replacement cartridges will be available to buy online from Brookstone and the cartridges can be fully recycled once depleted. There is no pricing information available at this time however the replacement cartridges are thought to cost no more than a few dollars. The system is being tested with users this year and an announcement on retail availability should follow that.

We've used all sorts of batteries for years, from household brands like Duracell and Energizer to the lithum-ion and lithium-polymer types found in many gadgets. How does the idea of a fuel cell grab you?

Source: Cnet

Miami zoo is using iPads to communicate with its orangutans. In a rather innovative approach, the zoo lets the Orangutans draw, play games and increase their vocabulary. The iPad is hugely popular with the younger orangutan residents but the older generation do not show much interest.

"Our young ones pick up on it. They understand it. It's like, Oh I get this,'" Jacobs said. "Our two older ones, they just are not interested. I think they just figure, I've gotten along just fine in this world without this communication-skill here and the iPad, and I don't need a computer.” Jacobs said she began letting the orangutans use iPads last summer, based on the suggestion of someone who had used the devices with dolphins. The software was originally designed for humans with autism and the screen displays pictures of various objects. A trainer then names one of the objects, and the ape presses the corresponding button.

Source: Associated Press

We've seen plenty of research showing just how profitable Apple is and how much market share they've claimed in the worlds of smartphones and PCs, but a new infographic really puts Apple's obscene cash flow into perspective. Some of the figures dug up by the creator, a gadget price and feature comparison site called Sortable, are really interesting. For example, Apple has enough money to buy RIM, Nokia, Twitter, Adobe, Netflix, and T-Mobile and still have cash leftover. Apple has also beat Wall Street estimates for 16 out of the last 17 quarters. Many of the other figures are ones that we've seen before, only these are presented all pretty-like.

Here's the infographic (click to enlarge), and just below it is a recent video detailing some of the ridiculous things Apple could do with its cash reserves.

Every British member of parliament is going to receive an iPad and the British tax payer is set to pick up the bill. The iPad roll-out is part of a major ICT upgrade and follows the completion of a successful iPad trial. The House of Commons administration committee has recommended that the iPad is given to all 650 MPs.

The idea is that by equipping MP’s with iPads or other tablets, it would reduce paperwork, save money, and would make MPs’ duties easier to perform. The scheme could cost the taxpayer between £260,000 to £429,000, with each device costing a minimum of £400 and a maximum of £660. At the moment, every MP already receives an allocation of three desktops and two laptops.

Source: TechWeek Europe, Image: The Telegraph

Touchtype is a new Kickstarter project that looks to integrate Apple's wireless keyboard into a slim fitting case for the iPad.  Inspired by the plethora of sub standard and under sized keyboard cases, the designer set out to integrate a full sized Apple wireless keyboard into the smallest and neatest case he could design.

The Touchtype case stores the Apple Wireless Keyboard underneath the iPad — not on top (like most other keyboard cases). This means you have direct access to your iPad as soon as you open the cover. To use the keyboard, just move aside the elastic restraining loops and slide it out from the pocket. There when you need it, gone when you don't.

If you want to get in early and secure one of these innovative cases, you have various options starting from just $49.

Source: Kickstarter

Apple has released information on the security updates that were covered in the recent release of iOS 5.1.1. When it was originally released yesterday, all that we knew was that there were various bug fixes. This update actually covers some important security fixes too for Mobile Safari and WebKit based browsers in general.

• Available for: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation) and later, iPad, iPad 2. Impact: A maliciously crafted website may be able to spoof the address in the location bar.
• Available for: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation) and later, iPad, iPad 2. Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to a cross-site scripting attack. Description: Multiple cross-site scripting issues existed in WebKit.
• Available for: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation) and later, iPad, iPad 2 Impact: Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. Description: A memory corruption issue existed in WebKit.

Given that, with iOS 5, Apple introduced over-the-air (OTA) updates to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, it's interesting that they're still waiting and bundling security patches into larger software updates. OTA updates are done via bit-differential (delta file), and happen on-device and without the need to backup, re-install, and restore, so they're small and incredibly efficient. Apple could choose to push out security updates far more frequently. It's possible they think more frequent updates could annoy users, or their numbers tell them too many users are still updating over USB with iTunes for it to make sense right now. Hopefully, however, they're moving in that direction.

If you haven't yet updated to iOS 5.1.1 and you're looking for some help to get started, here’s where to go:

• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad over-the-air using iCloud
• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad using iTunes on Mac or Windows
• iOS 5 help and discussion forum

Apple is supposedly looking into developing a way for multiple users to access one iPad with separate accounts and home screens. In response to an emailed suggestion for the feature to be added,  Apple said that it was a known issue being investigated by engineering.

"After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering," the official response from Apple Developer Connection's Worldwide Developer Relations team reads.

Sharing the iPad with other family members is common practice but the ability to give them separate accounts makes a lot of sense. Each family member could have their own login screen, home screen and favourite apps all password protected so other family members could not delete or change anything. Only problem with this solution would be the additional storage space required for multiple users. Of course if you plan on using your iPad this way, you could always just buy the 64GB.

Both Apple's OS X for Mac and Microsoft Windows, as well as various Unix, Linux, and other computer systems, have provided multiple user logins for decades. So far, Apple has avoided that with iOS. Instead of multiple user logins for each member of a family, they seem to prefer multiple user devices, where each member of the family has their own iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

That doesn't address other common situations, however, such as handing an iPad to a friend or guest, and providing a way for them to use it for web browsing or gaming without giving them access to all your other personal information.

So, while the response from Apple above may well be boiler plate, it does serve to bring some much needed attention to the issue.

Is multiple user login or guest mode something you'd like to see in iOS 6?

Source: Apple Insider

The note Instagrammed above and quoted below greets new Apple employees on their first day of work. That's not a new revelation, but seeing it turn up again online is a great reminder. Apple sweats a lot of little details. From day one.

There is work and there is your life's work.

The kind of work that has your fingerprints all over it. The kind of work that you never compromise on. Thought you'd sacrifice a weekend for. You can do that kind of work at Apple. People don't come here to play it safe. They come here to swim in the deep end.

They want their work to add up to something.

Something big. Something that couldn't happen anywhere else.

 Welcome to Apple.

That sense -- that Apple is working on things that are insanely great, that will dent universes -- was deliberately made part of Apple's corporate culture during the Steve Jobs era, and is something the current executive team no doubt wants to maintain.

Ultimately, whether you find it inspirational or cultish, it's proven effective, over and over again, every time Apple ships a new device or announces record results.

Often in modern companies employees aren't instilled with a sense of value. Their individual contributions are recognized and they aren't made to feel as if they matter. Sometimes they're deliberately made to feel like they don't matter, like they're an insignificant cog in a giant wheel, expendable and always replaceable. That products are part of an assembly line, a unending conveyer belt of beige boxes. A machine.

There's no shortage of stories about Steve Jobs and Apple utterly annihilating employees, or about the stresses and pressures endured by those who work at Apple.

But on the first day, when employees are new and expectations are set, they're told they can change the world at Apple. And that's a tremendously powerful message.

Source: M via @nickbilton,

The Next Web

Sanofi US announced today that the iBGStar Blood Glucose Monitoring System, consisting of the iBGStar blood glucose meter and iBGStar Diabetes Manager App, is commercially available in the U.S. iBGStar is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared blood glucose meter that directly connects to the iPhone and iPod touch, offering accurate blood glucose monitoring that seamlessly integrates into the lives of people with diabetes. iBGStar is available for purchase at Apple Retail Stores and all Walgreens stores nationwide, online at Apple.com, Walgreens.com and through Diabetic Care Services.

Source: Multivu, Apple Store

An iPhone 4 that began smoking and glowing on a passenger flight has been found to have been badly repaired. Thankfully, when the incident took place, the plane had already landed at Sydney airport and airline staff managed to deal with the alarming discovery. The ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau) has now carried out a full investigation and discovered that the iPhone 4 had been tampered with.

The technical examinations found that a small metal screw had been misplaced in the battery bay of the mobile telephone; the screw puncturing the battery casing and causing an internal short circuit leading to heating and thermal runaway. It was probable that the screw had been misplaced during an earlier repair carried out on the telephone. That repair had not been conducted by an authorised service provider.

Source: ATSB

Logitech has announced the Solar Keyboard Folio iPad case which is a Bluetooth keyboard and case integrated into one accessory. What's different with this particular iPad case combo is that the keyboard is powered by any indoor or outdoor light source. Even more impressive is the charge that these on-board solar cells can hold. Logitech claims that a full charge can last up to two years even in complete darkness. These findings were based on an average use scenario of two hours per day.

“Now that people are seemingly inseparable from their tablets, using them for everything from sending emails to watching videos, they want accessories powered to meet their needs,” said Alexis Richard, director of product marketing at Logitech. “The Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio is a smart partner for your iPad. Its sleek built-in keyboard uses light to charge and it provides hassle-free protection for your iPad – both for the front and back. It gives you an ideal way to use and protect your tablet without adding bulk.”

The Solar Keyboard Folio case will be available in the US and Europe later this month and will cost $129.99. It is compatible with the new iPad as well as the iPad 2.

Source: Logitech PR

The Pop Video pico projector is a new accessory from Micron Technology, Inc. that claims to deliver the big screen experience to your iPhone or iPod touch. The accessory clips onto your iPhone or iPod touch and turns it into a projector allowing you to display a lot of your devices content on a projector screen or wall. The video resolution is qHD which is 960 x 540 pixels.

The sleek and portable PoP Vide pico projector is the ideal iPhone or iPod touch accessory to share your favorite photos, movies, TV programs, and video clips! The PoP Video connects directly to your iPhone or iPod touch without messy cords. PoP Video™ is for anyone who enjoys simple and fun entertainment through projecting humor, interests, experiences, and social networking. It's not about the device but rather the person using it...

If you fancy getting your hands on one of these, you can pre-order them now for a cost of $99.  They are compatible with the third and fourth generation iPod touch and the iPhone 4 and 4S.

Source: Pop Video

Disney is testing iPads and looks set to use them for its next generation FastPass park system. The current FastPass system allows park guests to receive their passes and avoid lines for popular attractions. The new system is being tested now with selected guests being asked to pre-book attractions in the near future.

Workers going around earlier were using iPads for RFID testing. Coordinator has an iPad training CMs with RFID at Mansion.

After guest scans card, the Cast Member uses a waterproof iPad to see the information from the card (including FP time & other Q&A).

They then select next guest on the iPad if it lights up green or direct them to one of four kiosks if it lights up blue.

Seeing a Haunted Mansion cast member with an iPad is a bit... strange.

The information comes from an unofficial Disney twitter account that claims to to know the various Disney projects going on at the theme parks. It should come as no real surprise that Disney is looking to Apple and the iPad for its new systems. The two companies have always had a close relationship, Steve Jobs served on Disney's board and Disney's Bob Iger is currently a member of Apple's board too.

Source: @DisneyProjects via 9to5 Mac

Samsung has snagged the top smartphone vendor spot from Apple, a throne Apple had just claimed in Q4 2011. Apple's Q1 2012 smartphone market share sat at 24.2%, while Samsung enjoyed a slight lead with 29.1% of all smartphone sales worldwide. The quarter also marked Samsung's leap over Nokia as the top mobile phone vendor globally, which is a huge competitive and symbolic victory. The overall market has shipped 144.9 million smartphones in the quarter, which is a 42.5% increase over last year. IDC's senior research analyst, Ramon Llamas, said of the battle between Apple and Samsung:

The race between Apple and Samsung remained tight during the quarter, even as both companies posted growth in key areas. Apple launched its popular iPhone 4S in additional key markets, most notably in China, and Samsung experienced continued success from its Galaxy Note smartphone/tablet and other Galaxy smartphones. With other companies in the midst of major strategic transitions, the contest between Apple and Samsung will bear close observation as hotly-anticipated new models are launched.

Apple and Samsung have been butting heads in the courtrooms, despite plans to talk about settling on their patent dispute; some might even say the neck-and-neck race between the two giants is what's propelling their legal squabbles forward. As the leading manufacturer, Samsung also embodies the Android threat that Steve Jobs pledged to go to thermonuclear war against. There's more than just patents and market share at stake here - there are big egos and a lot of pride on both sides of the fence. It will be interesting to see who wins which battles, but this is shaping up to be a feud that won't be concluding any time soon.

Have you swapped out an iPhone for a Samsung device? Or, conversely, made the leap from a Samsung Android smartphone to iOS? How are you finding the switch?

Source: IDC

RIM Australia has confirmed that it was responsible for the flashmob attack on a Sydney Apple Store. The campaign against Apple titled 'Wake Up' was originally pinned on Samsung. Samsung denied it and now RIM Australia has confirmed that it was responsible via a press release after the accompanying website was traced back to RIM.

We can confirm that the Australian ‘Wake Up’ campaign, which involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne, was created by RIM Australia. A reveal will take place on May 7th that will aim to provoke conversation on what ‘being in business’ means to Australians.

The flashmob took place outside the Apple Store in Sydney; a bus full of protestors all dressed in black left the bus and lined up outside the store’s window. They then produced signs that they held up against the windows with the words ‘Wake Up’ emblazoned across them. The flashmob then chanted ‘Wake Up’ through the window at Apple’s staff and customers.

It should be noted that RIM Australia probably operates with a great deal independence from RIM corporate when it comes to marketing, with their own budget and agency. It's possible RIM corporate had little or no knowledge of the campaign, and could be finding out about it at the same time we are -- during BlackBerry World 2012. If that's the case, this probably isn't a distraction they're enjoying right now.

Source: MacTalk

Apple has quietly continued the roll out of its iTunes Match service by launching it in five more countries. iTunes Match is now available in Italy, Greece, Portugal, Austria and Slovenia. iTunes Match was originally made available in the United States  back in November. It was then rolled out to a few more countries in December last year and now a five more have been added into the mix.

iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to iCloud for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 20 million songs in the iTunes Store, chances are your music is already in iCloud. And for the few songs that aren’t, iTunes uploads what it can’t match. Even better, all the music iTunes matches plays back from iCloud at 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

How to set up and use iTunes Match

Source: Macstories

From Apple II to Mac to iPad to... what exactly?

Last week, during their Q2 2012 financial results conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that, in terms of sales, the iPad achieved in just 2 years what took the iPhone 3 years, the iPod 5 years, and the Mac 20+ years.

I'll let that the idea of that jump-to-warp-speed acceleration curve sink in for a moment while I digress into nostalgia.

Apple made mainstream the personal computer with the Apple II, the graphical interface with the Mac, and the multitouch interface with the iPhone and iPad. Decade after decade they made computing ever more personal, from clunky command line to intermediated mouse, to intimate touch. That is the single, relentless theme of Apple's existence.

They wove branches around the trunk of that theme as well, of course. Cameras and printers that didn't set the world on fire. Set top boxes that faded away or remain just a hobby. Social networks that have been anything but. Yet a few of those branches have been every bit as compelling as the main theme. The iPod popularized digital audio players and iTunes, digital audio. Apple Stores redefined the retail experience and the brick-and-mortar consumer electronic profit potential. The App Store revolutionized software delivery and the idea of mobile devices as platform ecosystems.

By any measure, Apple has had an unprecedented string of successes that not only dented the gadget universe, but knocked it sharply on its ass.

Now back to that acceleration curve. As mind-boggling as Apple's past successes have been, they also sharply bring this question into focus -- what's next?

Steve Jobs' biography raised television, textbooks, and photography as areas of interest. Apple has already dabbled in television with their aforementioned hobby, the Apple TV. They've stuck their toe into the textbook space with their recent Education Event and iBooks Author initiative. And, hey... they make iPhoto and Aperture.

There have been persistent rumors of an Apple television set proper, something that Steve Jobs may have said he'd cracked the interface for, and something Apple might have already prototyped to some degree in their labs. It remains to be seen if Apple will ever decide to release their own television set, however. And if Apple does release it, it's doubtful it could match or exceed the sales of the iPad, that it could it do in one year what the iPad did in 2. It could absolutely change the rules, the way the Apple II did, the Mac did, and the iPhone/iPad did, and disrupt the current television industry to the degree that it soon begins to redefine it, but it wouldn't redefine computing itself again.

An Apple television wouldn't be part of Apple's relentless theme to further democratize and popularize computing. It could further socialize it, since television is more familial than personal, but it would simply be another branch, perhaps lucrative as the iPod, or perhaps just a hobby like the Apple TV. It wouldn't be a leap beyond the iPhone or iPad.

Same with photography. Apple has already played the iPhone card, and that's a great play in the point-and-shoot, mobile photography space. High end (DSLR) isn't mainstream and supporting services is another sub-plot, not a theme.

Same with textbooks. Again, Apple has played that card with the iPad and everything else will just enhance that existing disruption.

So what does that leave? iCars, iWatches, iRobots? Unlike many of their competitors, Apple doesn't just drop nukes on the future and hope to hit something, some day. They fire cruise missiles and carefully adjust the course until they hit just exactly what they want to hit, just exactly when they want to hit it. That's why, despite their tendency towards patterns and cycles, they remain hard to predict.

The Apple II was released in 1977. The Mac some 7 years later in 1984. The iPhone and iPad some 20+ years later in 2007 and 2010. As much as the sales curve is accelerating, the big leaps in product category for the devices that serve Apple's main theme have slowed considerably.

That's why the branches are so important, and that's why there will continue to be iPods and iTunes, Apple Retail and Apple TVs. There will be products besides a personal computer and a mobile device, that mainstream consumers will still buy by the hundreds of millions, and are ripe for an Apple style revolution.

Apple will still pursue their main theme, and will follow the iPhone and iPad the same way they followed the Mac, but there will be a lot more iPods and iTunes along the way.

Perhaps Apple will get into mobile payments and further expand the reach of the iTunes checkout system (sure, Apple could buy Square and Foursquare -- and why not Squarespace -- while they're at it?). They could finally overcome the cataclysmic myopia of Hollywood by either funding creators directly and serving up more Dr. Horrible style made-for-digital content, or simply buy a studio like Sony did and force Hollywood, kicking and screaming, into the future (is Pixar for re-sale?). There are many, many opportunities ancillary to Apple's existing businesses over-ripe-to-the-point-of-rotting for innovation.

So, while every pundit and their analyst seems eager to rumor up Apple's next big thing while simultaneously dismissing all current things as "iterative", I'm eager to see all of it. From Mountain Lion and iOS 6 at WWDC 2012 to the 2012 iPhone this fall and the next new iPad beyond it.

Nothing Apple does exists in a vacuum. Sure, at some point in the future, when technology makes it possible, Apple might just re-revolutize personal computing again. Maybe they'll make it wearable or implantable. Maybe they'll make it more human, with a natural language and thought interface disruption that does to multitouch what multitouch did to mouse and mouse did to command line and command line did to punchcard.

Or maybe, just like the computer became the network, the device may become the ecosystem, and each element from hardware to software to service will drag each other inexorably forward. Maybe Siri and iCloud are the first indicators of that.

What better way to serve Apple's theme but for the next big thing to be a relentless stream of small things?

Image credit: iDoodle by Jason Harrison

Some additional investigation into the "Wake Up" flashmob that happened at Australia Apple stores last week reveals it may actually be BlackBerry and Research In Motion behind the stunt. This conclusion was drawn from a wily forum-poster who checked out the teaser site, and found within the source an account code for DoubleClick (an online ad campaign management system). That code apparently matches up with RIM Australia. On top of that, the countdown in seconds points to July 2 12:30 PM PDT, which a tipster suggests will be the launch day for RIM's new operating system.

Samsung has already denied that they were responsible, so if it isn't them or RIM, who could be in charge of this campaign, and to what end? My only guess at this point is Greenpeace, who had recently published a scathing report on Apple's iCloud operations. Greenpeace has made a similarly high-profile protest at an Apple store in London, but this incident seems like it might be a bit too slick and professionally-executed to be a Greenpeace effort.

(It probably wasn't CrackBerry Kevin -- he seems to have an alibi...)

Assuming RIM is behind this "Wake Up" campaign, how effective is it? Does going after Apple this aggressively actually accomplish anything, especially if the organizers are being so coy about what it is they're promoting or pushing?

A new jailbreak tweak called Quasar will let you have multiple apps open and running at the same time. If you've always yearned for the opportunity to have your iPad work more like a desktop OS like Windows or OS X, Quasar could be just what you've been looking for.

Quasar is (the very first) window manager for iPad! Now you can run apps in windows, on your iPad! Simply open any application and it will be opened in a window, just like in your computer. Quasar is integrated to iOS's default app switcher (double pressing home button). Killing an application in app switcher (or holding the close button) kills its window and the application itself, but if you only click the close button, the window is closed but the application keeps running in background (in the app switcher).

Quasar is a version 1.0 jailbreak app and to be fair you can tell. It crashed the springboard a few times when I was playing with it and froze a couple of times too. There are weird rotations and portrait bugs as seen in the video are quite annoying too. Having said that, this could potentially be a game changer as and when it's quirks have been ironed out.

Quasar is available through Cydia for $9.99 and is for the iPad only running iOS 5 or higher.

UPDATE: The developer has already released an update and fixed some of the bugs that we experienced in the demo video. The orientation and rotation bugs are now fixed along with a few other things too. Good to see such speedy bug fixes!

According to reports, Apple has been in talks with major TV channel Epix over rights to streaming its content to the Apple TV or any other Apple device which has that capability. The Epix channel is backed by three major movie studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate.

Apple Inc began talks earlier this year to stream films owned by EPIX, which is backed by three major movie studios, on devices including a long-anticipated TV, according to two people with knowledge of the negotiations.

Source: Reuters

Samsung and a marketing team working on its behalf were reportly behind a flashmob protest at an Apple Store in Australia. The flashmob took place outside the Apple Store in Sydney; a bus full of protestors all dressed in black left the bus and lined up outside the store's window. They then produced signs that they held up against the windows with the words 'Wake Up’ emblazoned across them. The flashmob then chanted ‘Wake Up’ through the window at Apple’s staff and customers.

An Australian blogger just happened to be in the Sydney Apple Store at the time of the flashmob’s appearance and managed to capture it on video. Maybe a coincidence or maybe not, who knows but he certainly seemed to capture the action from all angles. This is not the first time that Samsung has targeted Apple's customers with its strange marketing tactics. We have already seen a few adverts which blatantly make fun of iPhone users.

Samsung looks like it will be announcing its latest Galaxy S III Android phone in the next few days. This sort of marketing is its attempt at creating some buzz for the launch, but also at hitting Apple in an area where it may really hurt -- the perception that Apple is "cool". It's a risky gamble. Some Apple or would-be Apple users might have second thoughts and consider Samsung. Others might just think Samsung are a collective bunch of jackasses and want nothing to do with their brand.

Samsung initially became the largest Android manufacturer in the world largely by making products as close to Apple's as possible without being made by Apple. If you wanted Apple but either couldn't get it, or were adverse to getting it, Samsung positioned themselves to be there for you. They brilliantly rode the wave of general smartphone awareness and preconceptions Apple established in the modern market.

Now Samsung has become bolder and are striking out with different devices like the Galaxy Note line, and are trying to distance themselves from Apple, aggressively, with their new marketing.

It's more interesting, more exciting, and more offensive. It's also likely transitional. After "we're just like Apple" and "don't be like Apple", the next phase has to be "we're Samsung" and that will be the one to really watch.

UPDATE: Samsung has denied that they were involved with the flashmob... Anyone taking bets on who else would want to do this? Maybe Greenpeace? They've had protests at an Apple store in London following on their iCloud report; maybe this campaign in Australia is a part of the same movement.

Source: The Next Web, SlashGear, YouTube

Apple will roll out the new iPad to nine more countries starting from today. This is the third phase of new iPad launches and will see it now available in a total of forty six countries.

Beginning on Friday, April 27, the new iPad will be available in Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand.

If you do manage to pick up a new iPad, don’t forget to pop in to our new iPad forums where you can find out all you need to know about your new device.

Sir Jonathan Ive has won the British Visionary Innovator 2012 award organised by the Intellectual Property Office. The award comes after the competition was open for seven days and allowed the public to vote for their most innovative person of 2012.

After a week of voting, you have chosen Sir Jonathan Ive as your favourite British Visionary Innovator for 2012. He received 46.6% of your votes, making him the clear favourite amongst a list of other hugely talented, creative and innovative people.

Source: Intellectual Property Office

Sprint has confirmed that it will still offer an unlimited data plan for the next generation iPhone. There was some doubt that the unlimited data would remain, especially if the iPhone 5,1 has the expected LTE radio. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has stated that Sprint will continue to offer a no-strings unlimited plan.

"I'm not anticipating the unlimited plan would change by that point," he said. "That's our distinctive differentiator." "Frankly, it's a marriage made in heaven," he said about the combination of unlimited and the iPhone. "We're clearly attracting customers from our competitors."

The decision by Sprint to offer unlimited data when all the other carriers are cutting back on their allowances has been very beneficial for Sprint. Hesse believes that many new customers have joined Sprint purely for the unlimited data. He was also keen to point out that he had no inside knowledge as to when the next iPhone would be released or if it definitely would be LTE capable.

Source: CNET

An elderly Chinese lady was stopped at customs trying to import more than 200 iPhones hidden inside used beer bottles. The iPhones which are available for a lot less in Hong Kong were being imported into Shenzhen China.

Collecting beer bottles is not that suspicious of a pastime for some as they can be given to recycling centers in exchange for a small payment. This time however customs officers were highly suspicious due to the weight of the bottles. On further investigation, officers discovered that the bottles had been tampered with. Each bottle had been professionally cut in half and each one loaded with three iPhones; they had then been taped back together.

The bottles contained a total of 216 iPhones, a mixture of iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models. It makes you wonder about the lengths these smugglers will go just to get the iPhones back into China; where they are actually made. This seems like a highly complicated procedure and a very clever one too!

Source: MIC gadget

Apple Senior Vice President of Internet Services, Eddy Cue bluntly commented on the iBooks pricing model and its legal quagmire, saying "We can't treat newspapers or magazines any differently than we treat FarmVille." Apple has recently been charged with colluding with publishers over pricing, sticking to an agency model whereby the publisher gets to set the prices rather than the retailer. This is in contrast to Amazon, which has taken the reins of pricing so they can undercut everybody else, even if means taking a loss so long as they can be number one and recoup through other purchases. Apple claims they're aiming to bust up Amazon's monopoly on e-books, but the Department of Justice isn't so sure and is moving ahead with their investigation.

Cue's commentary on the situation is certainly apt; why up-end their established fee structure for electronic goods just because these ones happen to be books rather than apps? That doesn't necessarily mean that the publishers didn't have their own conversations, but at first glance it doesn't seem like Apple was doing anything particularly wrong here.

Of course, we'll see how the trial pans out and what new evidence comes to light. In the end, iBooks isn't hugely popular, and I can't imagine it will be a massive blow if Apple is forced to change their model around a little bit. How do you guys feel about iBooks pricing? Are you willing to pay close to what a real copy costs, or should electronic versions be cheaper?

Source: WSJ

Apple is pushing the benefits of using an iPhone in business with the launch of a new webpage on its site. The new page is simply titled "iPhone at Work" and it runs through a reasonably extensive lists of business orientated apps and features.

Stay on top of your business and accomplish everyday work tasks in a whole new way. With iPhone and amazing apps that get you the information you need at a  moment’s notice, your work day is anything but ordinary.

It appears that more and more businesses are looking to integrate the iPhone into their IT infrastructures. Apple wants to ensure that it has the information available to IT professionals when they need to make the big decisions!

Source: Apple

Apple's next generation iPhone is rumored to use a new display panel technology that could make the device not only thinner but lighter too. The panel technology which is called in-cell touch is currently being rolled out by Sharp and Toshiba. The rumors come from sources in Apple's current supply chain.

An improvement in yield rates of the in-cell touch panels at Sharp and TMD has persuaded Apple to choose to cooperate with Japan-based panel makers, the sources noted. The adoption of the in-cell touch panels, if realized, will also have a significant impact on the operations of Apple's current touch panel suppliers TPK Holdings and Wintek, which are specialized in the production of glass on glass touch solutions currently, said the sources.

Source: Digitimes, AUO

Apple Stores gross more than 16 times the U.S. average revenue per square foot of retail space per year, according to new research by RetailSails. $300 per square foot annually is considered respectable, while the U.S. average in malls is around $341. Jewelers average around $600, while the median of the top 20 U.S. retailers sat at $787 per square foot. And what does Apple make? $5,626. Yowza. They're also leading by growth, boasting 49.1% year-over-year increase, which is way ahead of lulemon's second place with 24.2%.

Apple's retail experience is unparalleled, despite being a relatively new venture. Other stores have definitely borrowed a few ideas from Apple Stores, including the recently-launched TELUS Next Generation store. With Apple intent on setting up shop in Wal-Mart stores, one can only expect their retail performance to increase in the forseeable future.

How much do you guys figure you've spent in an Apple store over the last year or so? Do you find it's worth the travel to get to an Apple store, even if another retailer is closer?

Source: RetailSails via Asymco

Apple is recommending that MobileMe customers log in to their MobileMe accounts and fill out a form with their mailing information. Apple will then send out a free copy of Snow Leopard on DVD. Of course there is more to this than meets the eye. In order for users to take advantage of iCloud, Snow Leopard still doesn’t cut the mustard. Once upgraded to Snow leopard with the free DVD, you then have to upgrade your Mac to Lion which will cost you $29.99.

MobileMe is due to be terminated as an Apple Service on June 30, so it makes sense to upgrade to an iCloud account as soon as possible. The offer of a free copy of Snow Leopard is due to expire on June 15, so it’s a good time to at least save half the cost of your upgrade... if you are still running Leopard on your Mac.

Which version of OS X are you running? Let us know in our Mac and OS X Forum

Source: MacGasm

Greenpeace recently released a report detailing how ecologically friendly different cloud service providers were in their data center operations, and Apple ranked 15.3% on their clean energy index. The index is built on criteria such as reliance on coal and nuclear energy, transparency in energy usage, and use of renewable sources. Google, by comparison, reached 39.4%, while Microsoft scored 13.9%.

Following the report, Apple has disputed Greenpeace's estimates, claiming that their data center would use 20 million watts maximum, while Greenpeace ballparked usage at 100 million watts. Apple also added that they're building a solar panel array and fuel cells powered by organic emissions, which should significantly contribute to their electrical demands at a data center in North Carolina.  Despite refuting their claims, Greenpeace stuck to their guns, and even had Amazon's chief web engineer estimate that Apple's new $1 billion, 500,000 square-foot data center would use at least 78 million watts. Greenpeace says that the renewable sources being built by Apple will only handle 10% of the energy demands.

Greenpeace has never ranked Apple particularly well in their rankings of electronics manufacturers, while Apple has a put a concerted effort into promoting their eco-friendly image. Apple obviously has a vested interest in proving that they're mindful of the environment, but most of their case studies relate to manufacturing materials and battery efficiency, not necessarily power usage for iCloud data centers.

How much does eco-friendliness factor into your decision to buy electronics? I can't imagine too many people think about data center energy consumption when signing up to cloud services, but maybe we should be. Here's the full report, if you want to take a gander. Page 38 goes into the specifics of their clean energy index rating.

FireCore has released another update to its hugely popular software for jailbroken second generation Apple TV's (2010, 720p version). The new 1.5 release includes a revamped video player which claims to improve playback performance of most video file types.

Today we're happy to release a brand new version of aTV Flash (black) which includes a revamped player that is optimized for iOS 5.0 and later. This new player improves performance for virtually all file type resulting in noticeably smoother playback. We've also baked in a number of other goodies including NFS streaming, subtitle timing settings, additional translations and a mountain of other improvements and fixes.

Still nothing concrete on the release of a jailbrealk for the latest Apple TV (2012, 1080p version) or an untethered jailbreak for the Apple  TV 2 running iOS 5.1. FireCore says that it is still working hard on both fronts but its is still too early to give an estimate on the release date.

If you’re looking for the full change log, you’ll find it below. If you really don’t need the full details and just want to get yourself updated, version 1.5 is available now from the Firecore website. If you're already running a version of aTV Flash (black) the new 1.5 version can be installed through the Maintenance --> Manage Extras menu.

Need help jailbreaking your Apple TV 2? If so, be sure to check out our full how-to guide.

Source: FireCore

Full Changelog

• Revamped player with improved performance (AppleTV 4.4 and later)
• Added NFS streaming
• Added Catalan, Czech, Korean and Traditional Chinese translations
• Added support for localized TV show pattern: TV Show/Season #/S##E##.extension
• Added manual subtitle time correction (-10.0s to +10.0s)
• Added support for embedded .FLAC cover art
• Added support for .AC3, .DTS and .MOD files
• Improved .EYETV file handling
• Improved audio synchronization in slow and unstable networks
• Improved slideshow operation with small images
• Improved movie folders detection logic to ignore hidden files
• Improved metadata fetching to support movies split into multiple files (dvd#, cd#, disk#)
• Improved zoom mode operation for non-square pixels
• Improved DVD menu handling
• Improved .OGG file handling (now correctly treated as audio)
• Improved error handling for connection issues
• Improved buffering logic
• Improved installation routine
• Other minor UI improvements
• Resolved format detection that was causing rare playback issues
• Resolved issue with volume level resetting during rw/fw
• Resolved floating crashes usually observed when using SMB with Windows 7 shares
• Resolved conflicts with XBMC related to SMB
• Resolved issues with metadata fetching for 'Show.Name.###.extension' pattern
• Resolved crashes observed in folders with significant number of files
• Resolved playback error on DVD and ISO files observed when file path contains '?' character
• Resolved crashes when working with long file paths
• Resolved rare issue with incorrect pre-playback screen layout
• Other miscellaneous bug fixes

Apple has approved an app called Bluetooth OnOff that simply allows you to turn your Bluetooth connection on and off from your home screen. Apple hasn’t previously permitted any apps that connect and interact to stock settings until now; so this is an interesting development.

Did it take too many steps just to turn on/off bluetooth? You can now turn on/off just by launching this app. Just in a second, you can activate or deactivate Bluetooth.

The app is extremely simple to use, once installed you have an icon on your home screen. If you click on it, a screen loads with a Bluetooth toggle switch, you can then turn Bluetooth on. If Bluetooth is already turned on then loading the app will give you the option to turn it off. The best way of using the app is to go into the apps settings and turn the OnOff switch to on. This enables you to now toggle Bluetooth On / Off from your home screen with one tap of the app icon.

Shortcuts similar to this were very popular when iOS 5 was initially launched. You could use Safari Bookmarklets to add various on/off settings to your home screen. This type of interaction was broken by Apple with the release of iOS 5.1.

It is very interesting that this app is now available but we don’t know if it is a mistake by Apple. It may be pulled at any minute or it could be a sign that Apple is prepared to allow apps that make its users life easier. Let’s be honest, turning systems settings on and off should not be anywhere near as tedious as it is now.

I hope that Apple finally addresses this problem with iOS 6. In the meantime let’s see if this app stays in the App Store. Maybe we will start to see more approved apps that allow us to toggle Wi-Fi and other system settings too.

$0.99 – Download Now

Apple has a new VP of Sales by the name of Zane Rowe. He's been the CFO at United Continental since 2010, during which time he no doubt has his hands full with the merger of United and Continental Airlines. Apple commented on Rowe's move, saying "We are thrilled that Zane Rowe will be joining us as one of our vice presidents of sales. He built a great team at United and we think he is going to do a fantastic job at Apple."

Continental and United just tied up the loose ends of their merger early last month. With Rowe gone, United Continental has assigned John Rainey, a senior VP of financial planning and analysis since 2005, to the position. United Continental's CEO Jeff Smisek said "While we are sorry Zane has decided to leave, we are excited to have such a talented executive as John Rainey become our chief financial officer."

While it's not a huge deal to see financial types move between industries, changing from financial to sales roles at the same time might be a bit of a challenge - especially for such a high-profile company as Apple.

Source: ATD

UK TV network Channel Five's The Gadget Show aired a 360 degree promo video for its new series which starts next week. The promo which aired last night was the first of its kind ever to be shown. To benefit from the complete experience, users had to watch live TV with an accompanying iOS app running on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The app ran in time with the live TV stream and enabled you to look around the studio using the inbuilt gyroscope; giving 360 degree views in real time of the studio.

At 9pm on 16th April 2012, Channel 5 will make television history by bringing you the world’s first 360 degree promo for the new series of The Gadget Show: World Tour. Jason Bradbury and Pollyanna Woodward are off on an international gadget-filled expedition to seek out and play with the greatest tech the globe has to offer.

Source: The Gadget Show, YouTube

Cards is Apple's iPhone app that allows you to create custom cards to be printed and mailed to friends and family. The recent update includes some cute templates for Mother's Day. Apple has added new cards in many of the other categories as well.

Creating a card is super easy and only take a few minutes to do. Once you decided on a template, just tap the photo field to insert a photo. You can edit text in a similar manner. Once you make your personal adjustment to the inside and outside of the card, you can add addresses from your address book. Then tap the price of the card ($2.99), enter your password, and your card is on its way!

Well, in theory.

I've tried sending a card twice now with no luck. Both times, I've added the recipient address from my contacts and then tapped to edit it because I wanted to change the name of the recipient. After I made my changes and tapped done, Cards prompted me to select what country the recipient is from. Then it crashed. Both times.

I'm actually pretty sad about this. I've sent personalized greeting cards with Cards in the past and the quality is great. I hope Apple fixes this before Mother's Day, because I was planning to send my mom a Mother's Day card with this app.

It's also ironic that Apple claims that this update "improves accuracy of envelope address verification" and "simplifies and improves the checkout process".

And while I'm griping about Cards, anyway, can I just say -- where's the iPad version, Apple?!

Free - Download Now

French Designer Philippe Starck claims that he has been working on a revolutionary new product with Apple and it will be unveiled in around eight months time. The comments were made to French newspaper Le Figaro and France-Info radio.

"Indeed, there is a big project together which will be out in eight months," said the designer in the show "Everything and its opposite." Invoking the "religious cult of secrecy" of the California firm, he declined further detail, except to talk about a project "quite revolutionary. (French translation)

Either way, we expect some terse phone calls from Cupertino to be hitting Starck's line any time now...

Update: According to Sebastian Page of iDownloadblog, it's an Apple Store design.

>According to a trustworthy source in France, Philippe Starck is actually working on a design for a future Apple Store. I wasn’t able to get more details out of my contact, but I do trust her. And from what I hear, this is hardly a secret in the small French world of design and architecture.

Hit the source link below for more.

Update 2: Apple has issued a statement that they aren't working with Starck on anything at all. He might still be making a yacht that Steve Jobs had commissioned prior to his death.

Source: Hardmac via 9to5 Mac, ATD ; Image: Wikipedia, iDownloadblog

Apple has officially responded to Department of Justice (DOJ) charges, which alleges Apple conspired with publishers to force an agency pricing model that ultimately makes e-books more expensive for consumers. AllThingsD quotes Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr:

The DOJ’s accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon’s monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from eBooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we’ve allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.

It's not the agency model itself which is in question, it's the charge that publishers secretly met and colluded to fix the pricing under the agency model. If the idea had just happened to simultaneously and independently occur to them, the DOJ might not have a case. Either way, it will be tougher to make a case against Apple, who absolutely benefits from the 30% cut and most favored nation (MFN) clauses in their agency model, and may have encouraged it, but who may not have been in on the same meeting at the same time decisions were made. That remains to be seen -- or proven.

On the other side, Amazon benefits from the dissolution of the agency model because they can go back to leveraging their (now pseudo-, thanks to Apple) monopoly position to drive down costs and force competitors out of the market.

Absent DOJ intervention, there are arguments to be made either way for letting the market decide. If ebook prices are too high, people will stop buying them and Apple's agency model will fail and prices will have to come down to account for the lower demand and higher supply. (Unlike the App Store, there are far fewer players involved so a race-to-the-bottom is extremely unlikely.) If ebook prices are too low, publishers will go out of business and Amazon's retail model will fail and prices will have to go up to account for the higher demand and smaller supply.

Personally, I don't mind paying slightly more if it ensures a better market and ultimately better content. I'd prefer paying $5 to $10 for better iOS apps to ensure even more, better iOS apps in the future. Just like entertainment companies refusing to release timely content at fair prices is bad for -- not entitled -- consumers (why can't I buy Game of Thrones Season 2 on iTunes yet?), consumers refusing to pay a fair price for timely content is bad for the industry (why can't an awesome iOS game fetch the same price as a Happy Meal that's gone in 5 minutes?). In a perfect world, both would be in balance and everyone would benefit.

My opinions -- and yours -- aside, it doesn't look like Apple is going to be settling this one any time soon.

Source: AllThingsD

Apple,  Penguin, and Macmillan haven't shown any signs of settling with the Department of Justice over charges of e-book pricing collusion issued yesterday, sources say. However, the other publishers in the suit, HarperCollins, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster, are likely to settle before the investigation goes any further.  Those who settle would basically be letting Amazon take back its throne as the god-king of e-books, since publishers were "forced" to raise their prices there due to the contract with Apple that forbade them to offer the books for cheaper anywhere else (known as "the most favored nation" clause). Apple obviously isn't interested in allowing Amazon to undercut them if the iBookstore is going to have any hope of success.

On the upshot, any settlement means that consumers will be able to enjoy cheaper e-books on iOS devices, no matter which store you go with. Amazon seems willing to take a loss on pricing so long as it drives rivals out of the market. That said, is it unfair that Amazon is using its existing position of leverage to lock out competition, or should Apple be doing what's best for consumers rather than what makes publishers the most money?

Source: WSJ

If you want to see how an iPad is assembled at a Foxconn factory, a new video reveals some of the processes involved. The video shows an iPad assembly line and focuses on the installation of the motherboard into the iPad casing, the installation of the battery, a visual inspection of the rear panel for scratches, the fitment of the LCD panel and then tests of the gyroscope and the display. The iPad is then packaged and ready for despatch.

The video is part of a series of reports by Rob Schmitz; who is only the second ever reporter given permission to access the factory floor at Apple’s iPad assembly line.

Source: Marketplace via TNW

Stride is a new jailbreak tweak which is available now,  it allows you to passcode protect your device but without the need for a boring old passcode. Instead of a series of numbers or letters, the Stride jailbreak tweak lets you set up an on screen gesture to do the job for you.

Unlocking your iOS Device just got a whole lot cooler. Never again do you need to worry about entering some lengthy password, or are limited to 9 points on a grid. With Stride, you unlock with gestures! Simply draw your password. That's it.

Source: YouTube

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been appointed as the opening-night speaker at the upcoming All Things Digital 10 conference at the end of May.

Walt Mossberg and I could not be more thrilled to announce that Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, will be the opening-night speaker at our 10th D: All Things Digital conference. It will be Cook’s first appearance at D, as well as his first time being onstage at an event not run by Apple or for investors since he was named CEO last August.

Cook will follow in the footsteps of the late Steve Jobs who made half a dozen appearances at the All Things D Conference over the past ten years; his last appearance was in 2010. Cook will be joined by a host of other high profile speakers; already confirmed are New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz. The All Things Digital conference will take place between May 29 and May 31, 2012.

Source: All Things D

Crunchy Logistics has demonstrated its latest innovation designed for the iPad, the Padzilla Too Interactive Case which lets you use your new iPad together with a Microsoft Kinect and a huge high definition display.

This is the largest interactive reproduction of an iPad in the world spanning 24 feet wide and 12 feet tall. The giant iPad display is constructed through the newest 3.5mm LED wall matrix display technology. 3.5mm is the thinnest LED separation currently possible for this type of LED matrix display which increases pixel density to possible “Retina” display quality at typical viewing distances. Padzilla now enables the user to interact on a large scale from a multitouch reproduction platform and is now multi-input gesture capable. This gives a great deal of flexibility on an already popular platform with thousands of apps for entertainment and business presentation purposes.

However, it would be a very impressive presentation tool or interactive advertising billboard. Of course if moneys no object, it could also be a way to impress all of your friends when you fire up a game of Fruit Ninja on that huge screen!

Source: Crunchy Logistics

Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters might as well be the moon when it comes to technology. It's managed to become so famous yet remain so mysterious that while almost everyone knows of it, few have actually set foot inside it. Apple Gazette has done a great job compiling photographs that offer a glimpse inside Apple's real walled garden, beyond even the Company Store and Caffe Macs. There's something for every Apple fan, from the wood, glass, and metal you might expect, to the pixel-art signage on the bathrooms you might not, to a fantastic shot of Tony Fadell, Jon Rubinstein, Jony Ive, Steve Jobs, and Phil Schiller in the meeting room.

Check it out via the link below and if you've ever visited 1 Infinite Loop, share your photos in our forum!

Source: Apple Gazette; image via Daniel Brusilovsky

The classic PC game Max Payne is set to arrive on the iOS platform next week, April 12^th to be exact. Rockstar has announced that it will have the original version of Max Payne ready for iOS next week and it will be called Max Payne Mobile.

Max Payne is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Almost all the gameplay involves bullet time-based gun-fights and levels are generally straightforward, occasionally incorporating platforming and puzzle-solving elements. The game's storyline is advanced by the player following Max's internal monologue as the character determines what his next steps should be. Several of the game's levels involve surrealistic nightmares and drug-related hallucinations of Payne.

Source: The Verge, Wikipedia

The late Steve Jobs referenced the quote "good artists borrow; great artists steal" and since then it's been weaponized and used to both condemn Apple for a perceived lack of creativity, or to excuse or justify competitors feeding off Apple's creativity, or both.

There was Xerox PARC before the Mac, critics say. There were Palm Treos or LG Pradas before the iPhone. There were Tablet PCs before the iPad. Nobody copied Apple and if they did, Apple copied other people first! Great artists steal!

Except that's not what the quote means, and it's not at all what Apple does.

Great artists steal inspiration not implementation.

Therein lies a monumental, industry defining difference. Apple, namely Steve Jobs, saw a mouse and graphical UI, but he didn't make a copy of Xerox's STAR, he made the Mac. He didn't look at it and see what it was and then copy it -- he looked at it and saw what it could become and then created that.

The Mac was inspired by the same fundamental user interface concepts as the STAR but it implemented those concepts in a far more consumer-friendly way.

Same goes for the iPhone, which was certainly inspired by the ideas of the Palm Treo -- a connected, multifunctional device with a touch screen -- but once again implemented those ideas in a way far more accessible for far more people.

I wrote about this yesterday in the comments to the post about Larry Page dismissing Steve Jobs' anger towards Google and Android as "a show".

Apple’s singular talent is taking existing technologies, putting them together in ways that are elegant and sensible, well packaged and integrated, and making them mainstream.

Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, he invented a way to make the car for everyone. Apple didn’t invent the elements that went into the iPhone, but they absolutely invented it. They invented how it looked and felt, how it was manufactured and how it worked in relation to the carriers. As the sum total of its bits and atoms, they invented the iPhone.

And not just the iPhone.

Again, it's why Apple made the Apple II and not IBM, why Apple made the Mac and not Xerox, why Apple made the iPod and not Sony, why Apple made the iPhone and not Palm, why Apple made the MacBook Air and not HP, why Apple made the iPad and not Microsoft.

Any one of those would have been an achievement. All of those together, from one company, over the span of one lifetime, is something much more.

It's great art.

According to a leaked internal AppleCare document, Apple is currently investigating Wi-Fi problems with the new iPad. The issues appear to relate to problems with not only poor Wi-Fi speeds but also connection drops and, in some cases, the inability to even see a particular network.

The internal AppleCare document, leaked to 9to5Mac asks for contact centers and retail stores to “Capture” iPad 3rd generation Wi-Fi only devices if they exhibit any issues relating to Wi-Fi. We assume that capturing means a replacement device for the customer and the problematic device being kept by Apple.

The Wi-Fi only version of the new iPad is the only version affected by these problems according to Apple.  4G LTE models do not seem to be troubled by the same symptoms; many are speculating that this is down to the exposed antenna area at the top of these models. This also marks the 3rd year in a row new iPad models have had reports of Wi-Fi issues.

Have any of you experienced any Wi-Fi related problems with their new iPad? If so, we're trouble-shooting in the new iPad forum.

Source: 9to5 Mac

A two year old boy has been rescued after falling down a narrow well thanks to an iPhone and some quick thinking rescue workers. The boy was playing with some friends when he fell down a 40 feet deep well, became stuck, and needed emergency assistance to get out.

The incident happened in Yunnan Province near Mengzi City, China. Local villagers tried in vain to get the boy out of the well while they waited for rescue teams to arrive. Once the fire-fighters arrived an hour later, they fed oxygen down the narrow shaft to enable the boy to breathe. They tried to lower a harness down the well but as it was an adult harness the boy kept slipping out of it and proved too dangerous to use.

In a move of brilliance, one fire-fighter attached his iPhone to a rope with the video camera enabled and lowered it down the well. The video was then played back and this let the rescue team to see exactly how the boy was positioned in the shaft and guide rope into the correct position and complete the rescue.

The boy escaped with only minor bruising; so was extremely lucky that the recuse team had such great vision and of course an iPhone. As they say, all’s well that ends well…….

Source: App Advice

Ashton Kutcher looks set to play the role of Apple's co-founder, the late Steve Jobs in an indie film which will be called simply “Jobs”. Kutcher who currently stars in "Two and a Half Men" is believed to have been cast in the main role according to a report by Variety.

The film will chronicle Steve Jobs from wayward hippie to co-founder of Apple, where he became one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of our time.

This film is not to be confused with the Sony film which is based on the recent best-selling book Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson; this is an entirely independent venture.

Source: Variety; Image: Wikipedia

Tim Cook isn't the only one cashing in Apple stock these days; Senior VP of marketing, Phil Schiller, CFO Peter Openheimer, VP of hardware engineering Robert Mansfield, and VP of iOS software Scott Forstall recently had the restrictions on some of their stocks removed, resulting in a sizable sell-off between March 24 and March 26. Even Cook sold off a few more. Here's the breakdown according to the SEC filings.

Tim Cook – Apple CEO

• 200,000 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $596.05-606.80.
• Total value: $119,715,170

Philip Schiller – Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing

• 64,151 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $602.30-603.05.
• Total value: $38,661,014

Peter Openheimer – Senior VP and CFO

• 150,000 shares sold; stock prices ranging from $596.05-599.33.
• Total value: $89,624,444

Robert Mansfield – Senior VP Hardware Engineering

• 56,016 shares sold at $596.05.
• Total value: $33,388,336

Scott Forstall – Senior VP iOS Software

• 55,849 shares sold at $596.05.
• Total value: $33,288,796

Total dollar amount combined: $314,677,763.28

Before anyone freaks out that Apple execs are losing faith in the company, this is actually pretty common practice, and not surprising considering these guys probably have lots more stock (restricted and otherwise) piled up. The timing also lines up nicely with Apple's plans to buy that stock right back. The AAPL stock price approached $615 a pop during the period the execs sold off, compared to around $350 at this time last year. This is the part where you start smacking yourself for not buying stock five years ago when it was down around $90.

Source: SEC Filings, iPhoneinCanada

Apple is butting heads with RIM, Motorola, and Nokia over the next evolution of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card sizes. SIM cards are used by GSM and LTE carriers to attach numbers and service plans to mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. After paving the way for the micro-SIM format, which has since been adopted by Nokia for their Lumia series, Apple is now putting pressure on the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to recognize a their new nano-SIM format as the next industry standard. What's the problem? Well, competitors worry that Apple would be in a position to claim patents on the nano-SIM format, and if it was set as the universal standard, they could all end up paying royalties. There's also a concern that other vendors would be stuck with Apple's design even if they think they've come up with something better.

On top of that, Apple might skew the voting process, having recently applied six of their subsidiaries for membership in the council. This would oust Nokia as the largest voting member.  Service providers are all for the nano-SIMs, in any case, and they're supporting Apple's proposal to ETSI. Voting at ETSI starts next week.

The nano-SIM would be 30% smaller and 15% thinner than the micro-SIMs currently found in iPhones and iPads, and that means more room in smartphones for other good stuff. iMore previously heard Apple was intent on moving away from the traditional 30-pin Dock port towards a "micro-Dock" connector due to similar space considerations.

Source: Financial Times

Apple lays out $45 billion, 3 year strategy to attract new investors and neutralize dilution

As expected, and hinted at by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple announced the start of a regular quarterly dividend this morning. They also announced intentions to buy back stock, although the dividend is the bigger news, and drew more questions from analysts on the call.

Apple held a conference call at 6am in their home time zone. That’s 9am for us East Coast people, and more importantly, it’s about the latest you can start a call while still getting all the news out before the stock market opens at 9:30am. So for those of you wondering why Apple held the call so early, its’ all about getting news out into the public’s hands before the market opens.

So what did they say? Here’s a summary of the main points:

• Apple has declared a divided of $2.65 per share starting around July. This, alone, will consume almost $10 billion of cash per year, based on Apple’s current shares outstanding of just over 932 million.
• Apple will also buy back about $10 billion of stock over the next three years. The focus of the buyback is to offset share growth from stock the company issues to employees, and stock that employees buy as part of the employee stock purchase plan.
• Although Apple has almost $100 billion in cash, only about $34 billion is domestic (held in the US). The rest is in foreign markets, and Apple would have to pay heavy taxes on this cash if they were to repatriate it right now. They are trying to convince congress that these US tax policies on repatriated cash are hurting local investments. It seems like a no-brainer to me. Apple doesn’t need to bring the money back home, and won’t if it is heavily taxed.
• Unrelated to the use of cash announcement, Tim Cook did reveal that Apple had a “record weekend”, in vaguely answering a question about the launch of the new iPad.

Dividends opens the door to new investors

In the world of investing, different types of funds have different mandates. Some funds are mandated to only buy dividend-paying stocks. Obviously these funds would not have been allowed to buy Apple stock in the past.

Now that this has changed, it opens the door to new buyers. This is one of the reasons that dividends often result in short term spikes in a stock’s trading price.

On top of this, we can expect demand among these new investors will be hot. After all, Apple is trading at an attractive P/E (price to earnings ratio) of only 14x based on this year’s expected earnings. Given the super strong growth rate of the company, this puts Apple stock in both the “value” and the “growth” camps at the same time. Dividend investment funds love this.

Plenty of room to grow

The $2.65 per quarter dividend means that investors are getting about 1.8% per year. Some analysts suggested that Apple could go up to 2.5%. And I agree with them. But we have to remember that companies who initiate dividends always want to position themselves to look good in the future. So they start slowly. They pay what they know can be easily paid. Then, over time, they increase the dividend.

Apple could even hold its payout ratio constant, and just grow its dividend based upon organic company growth. But if growth slows, and the need for such a huge cash war chest lessens, Apple can continue to grow its dividend by increasing the payout ratio.

Apple has just announced that they will be holding an early morning conference call tomorrow, Monday March 19, at 6am PDT, 9am EDT to discuss Apple's cash balance. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has said he's "not religious" about holding onto to money, and Apple has repeatedly said they're patient and aren't letting their enormous cash hoard burn a hole in their collective pockets.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, and Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, will host a conference call to announce the outcome of the Company’s discussions concerning its cash balance. Apple will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash.

Apple's been racing towards $100 billion in cash recently, with no slowdown in sight. Some have called for a dividend for shareholders or a stock buy back, while others have hoped for larger scale purchases.

iMore's own Chris Umiastowski has been hoping for a cash return for a while::

I, for one, would love to see Apple return some of the cash to shareholders. When one quarter of your valuation is tied up in cash it doesn’t maximize value. Apple earns some interest income on the cash, but interest rates are excessively low these days and if they paid out the cash it wouldn’t put much of a dent in their earnings. So paying out the cash unlocks value, which is why shareholders are so interested in seeing something materialize. 2012 looks like the year when something will finally happen.

That was following last quarter, where Apple hit $97.6 billion in cash reserves, $46.33 billion in revenue, 37 million iPhones sold, and 15.4 million in iPads sold. Recently, Apple's even hit $600 a share. Indeed, Chris is in the camp that believes Apple could become the world's first trillion dollar company.

If anyone wants to get their best guesses in, do it now before the bell rings on the call tomorrow.

Con call link: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/call31912

iMovie is an excellent video editing application that is easy and fun to use, but are the new trailers really enough to take the spot as the best video editing app for the iPhone and iPad?

iMovie is part of the Apple's iLife suite for iPhone and iPad. While iPhoto allows you to re-touch and sort your photos and GarageBand aims to give users the ability to edit audio and create music on their devices, iMovie completes the series with tools to help you create, edit, and share beautiful movies and trailers without ever having to touch a computer.

Editing

The editing screen is set up similar to iMovie on the Mac and split into 3 different screens. On the bottom of the screen, you find the timeline for your movie, on the top left, you find available media, and video preview is located in the top right. The “My Projects” screen is beautifully designed to look like a vintage movie theater.

The types of media that you can add to your movie are videos, photos, and music. However, the videos must be what's available in the Photos app, so if you have homemade videos that you imported into the Videos app of your iPad with iTunes, you cannot access them from iMovie.

Editing movies is very easy with iMovie. You can preview clips by simply dragging your finger across them. You can then trim the edges before adding them to your project. To move clips around in your timeline, simply drag it to where you want. If you want to split a clip, position the cursor, select the clip, and swipe down along the cursor. To adjust the length of time that a video clip (or photo) appears in your movie, just drag the ends of the clip appropriately. You can also easily record audio and video directly into the timeline.

A recently added feature of iMovie is the ability freeze a frame. You do it exactly like splitting a clip, just instead of swiping down, you swipe up.

Music audio tracks are limiting in that you cannot add more than one song to your movie unless your movie is long enough to play an entire song. You can then have a new song start after the first one is finished, but you cannot control the length of the clip nor choose when you want the song to start. Your song must start at the beginning of the movie and it must play until the song or movie is over, whichever comes first.

iMovie comes with a lot of sound effects pre-installed. The good news is that these effects are stackable and you can have up to 3 audio tracks playing at a time (including background music). Choosing when they play in your movie is as simple as dragging them along the timeline. Double tapping any audio clip with give you option to adjust the volume or delete the clip.

Inserting photos is achieved in the same manner as adding videos and audio. Double tapping an inserted photo gives you options to give the photo a title style (opening, middle, ending) and to add a location.

iMovie will automatically add transitions between clips and photos. Tapping on the transition icon will allow you to specify the length of the transition (0.5s, 1.0s, 1.5s, 2.0s) and select between your theme's special transition - a tradition cross dissolve, or no transition at all.

iMovie is stocked with 8 different themes, each of which comes with its own title screen format, transitions, and theme music.

Trailers

The newest and biggest addition to iMove for iPhone and iPad is the ability to make trailers -- credits and all! iMovie comes with 9 different themes: Bollywood, Expedition, Fairy Tale, Narrative, Retro, Romance, Scary, Superhero, and Swashbuckler. Each template comes with a nice example of what it will look like.

Once you select a theme you're ready to jump right into editing your trailer. On the Outline tab, you can edit your name, studio, and credit info. Although a little boring to fill out, it's this information that gives your project the appearance of a real movie trailer.

The Storyboard tab is where the real creation happens. The template will have phrases filled out for you but you need to tap them to edit them to say whatever you want. iMovie also provides thumbnails for each part of the trailer. These thumbnails actually contain recommendations regarding the type of video clip you want (closeup, medium, action, wide, group, etc).

Inserting a clip is very easy to do yet hard to be precise. The length of each clip has been predetermined by iMovie so dragging your finger along a potential clip shows a yellow frame around the area of the clip that will actually be inserted into the movie. What's frustrating about this is that there isn't a way to preview that little chunk of video all by itself which makes being precise difficult.

Sharing

Sharing your movies is a breeze and iMovie is equipped the the ability to send directly to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and CNN iReport. Just tap the familiar sharing arrow from the projects screen and make your selection.

It's not unreasonable to suspect iMovie on the iPhone and iPad to sync, ideally through iCloud, with iMovie on the Mac or other iOS devices. Well, it doesn't. Not even over a cable. This is a shame because it would be very nice if you could start a project on your iPhone or iPad, then finish it up with on your Mac. Maybe next year?

The Good

• Very easy to use due to the great user interface
• Themes are well designed, simple, and fun
• Trailers are easy to edit and fun to create -- a great addition
• Ability to freeze frames and split clips
• Lots of preinstalled sound effects

The Bad

• Song clips must be played in the background of your entire movie and the length of the song cannot be adjusted
• No way to sync with iMovie on another iOS device or Mac
• Cannot use movies that were imported onto the iPhone or iPad with iTunes. All video clips must come from the albums that appear in the Photos app.
• Choosing small chunks of video for trailers is not very precise

The Conclusion

iMovie is a great application for making movies and trailers on your iPhone and iPad. It has plenty of features that will please most users. The themes and trailers set it apart from other video editing apps. However, even since the most recent update, Avid Studio is still a more powerful video editing app. I was hoping that Apple was going to wow us with an amazing update, but they didn't quite deliver this time around.

$4.99 - Download Now

Pages for iPhone and iPad is a great way to do word processing on the go, but iCloud may not keep your documents as seamlessly synced as you expected.

Apple’s Pages is the word processing component of their iWork productivity suite of software, and a companion app to Numbers for spreadsheets and Keynote for presentations. Universal apps that work on iPhone and iPad, all three have proven to be popular choices for document management on the go and have just recently been updated to support iOS 5.1 and the new iPad‘s Retina display.

If you’re a new iPad or iPhone owner and need a way to create and edit documents on the go, Pages is Apple’s iCloud integrated solution.

Document organization

Documents can be grouped together into folders.

The documents screen of Pages displays your documents as a grid. You can create folders that contain multiple documents, similar to how you create folders of apps on your home screen. From here you can also delete, rearrange, and duplicate documents, add documents from iTunes, iDisk, or WebDAV, and create new document.

Templates

There are 16 predesigned templates included with Pages.

Pages comes with 16 different templates to help you get started with your project.

• Modern Photo, Classic, Formal, and Personal Photo letters
• Modern Photo and Classic Resume
• Project Proposal and Visual Report
• Poster and Flyer
• Term Paper and Syllabus
• Party Invite and Thank You Card
• Recipe

All of them are fully customizable so that you can make them your own.

Formatting

Pages offers an ample amount of formatting options.

When creating a document, you'll find a bar with formatting options you use most often: font type and size, bold, italics, underline, justification, and tabs. You can also easily adjust your margins and paragraph indent by dragging the arrows on the ruler at the top of the screen.

Tapping the paintbrush icon will give you more formatting options like paragraph and list styles, font color, columns, and line spacing.

Inserting media, tables, charts, and shapes

You can easy insert and edit photos, tables, charts, and shapes into your documents with Pages.

To insert media, tables, charts, and shapes into your document, just tap the + sign and choose what you'd like to insert. From the media tab, you can select photos from your Camera Roll, Photo Stream, or albums. The Tables tab has 24 different table designs to choose from. In the Charts tab, you'll find 9 different 2D and 8 different 3D charts, each in 6 different colors, and in the Shapes tab, you'll find 15 different shapes available in 6 different colors.

When inserting your media, you can scale it and move it around your document. If you drag it to an edge, the text will wrap around it, and if you put it in the middle somewhere, the text will separate above and below it.

Tables can be easily editable by just tapping on them. You can type information into each cell (even copy/paste from a spreadsheet app like Numbers) and adjust how many rows and columns your table is made up of.

Charts are treated the same way, except that you can rotate 3D ones around a little bit. Since charts require a set of data to have any sort of value, Pages allows you to edit the chart data (similar to a table) and select if you want to plot the rows or columns as a series.

Shapes are actually pretty fun to add to a Pages document because they are also adjustable. For example, if you select a star, you can add more points to it and adjust how skinny the points are.

Document Setup

The Document Setup section of Pages is where you design the background of your document.

If you tap the Tools button, you'll find options for sharing, searching your document, settings, help, and Document Setup.

Tapping Document Setup will bring you to a new screen that shows a blank document page with a header, a footer, and margins. Dragging the margin lines will adjust the margins and tapping the header or footer allows you to edit them with page numbers, line breaks, or with your own pasted information.

If you take a look at the bottom right corner of the page, you'll notice that's it's turned up a little. Tapping here will fold up the bottom of the paper and reveal two different paper size choices: US Letter and A4. Unfortunately, those are the only sizes available.

In the upper right corner, you'll find a + sign. From here, you can add media, tables, charts, and shapes, similarly to how you enter them into your actual document. The difference is that if you add these items from the document setup screen, they actually work as the background of your document so that text will appear over them. This is how you can change the color of your page, add borders, and get creative when designing things like posters and flyers. Each item you add can be further edited by tapping the paintbrush icon.

Sharing

You can share your documents with iCloud, iTunes, iWork.com, iDisk, WebDAV, and email.

Once you're done creating your document, you can email it, print it, share to iWork.com, send to iTunes, or copy to iDisk or WebDAV. Surprisingly, you cannot share (or "Open in") iBooks. Although, if you email it yourself, you can then "Open in" iBooks from the email.

Pages also has support for iCloud so that you can keep all your documents synced between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This works fabulously for iPhone and iPad, but the experience is a bit clunky for the Mac - it doesn't "just work". To get your document onto your Mac, one would think you'd just have to launch Pages and be able to find it under the File menu. No such luck. Instead, you have to go to iCloud.com and download your document from the iWork section. This is very inelegant to say the least. Most 3rd party apps with iCloud support handle syncing to the Mac better than this. Apple should be embarrassed.

The Good

• Easy to use
• 16 nice templates to choose from
• Photos, graphs, charts, and shapes are very easy to edit, customize, and insert
• Document Setup is a great way to design the background of your project and is great for posters and flyers
• iCloud between iOS devices works great

The Bad

• Syncing with iCloud to your Mac is, for lack of a better word -- lame
• Can't "Open in" iBooks without emailing it yourself first
• Only US Letter and A4 paper sizes
• No Dropbox support

The Conclusion

If you're looking for an easy to use, well designed word processor for you iPad, Pages is an excellent choice. But if you are a big Dropbox user or want to sync with MS Word, you're going to want to look elsewhere. Personally, I'm happy with Pages and I've never felt the need to shop for a different word processing app.

$9.99 - Download Now

Right now, one (1) share of Apple costs roughly the same as a new iPad, and Apple CEO Tim Cook just traded in 37,500 shares for a grand total of $11.1 million. Yeah.

For the last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been holding onto a bunch of restricted Apple stock awarded to him when he first took up day-to-day leadership duties when Steve Jobs left on medical leave. On March 10, the restriction was lifted on a bunch of that stock, which allowed him to sell. 17,322 of those shares were surrendered for taxes, but the other 20,178 were all sold yesterday over the span of five separate sales throughout the day.

Cook recieved another million shares when he signed on as CEO that he'll be able to sell in 2016 and 2021, and no doubt he's holding even more stock beyond that; Cook's definitely in it for the long haul. The street doesn't seem to mind the sale -- in fact, prices have climbed from $556 this morning to $568.

Source: [SEC](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/320193/000118143112016500/xslF345X03/rrd337933.xml">are available over here) via iPhoneInCanada

TV news network Al-Jazeera will air a documentary tonight that has been filmed entirely with an iPhone. The documentary was filmed by an undercover journalist using just an iPhone as the use of a large camera would have been a major security risk. The documentary called “Syria: Songs of Defiance” follows an anonymous journalist on a journey amongst the uprising in Syria.

I can’t tell you my name. I’ve spent many months secretly in Syria for Al Jazeera. I cannot show my face and my voice is disguised to conceal my identity, because I don’t want to endanger my contacts in Syria. Because carrying a camera would be risky, I took my cell phone with me as I moved around the country and captured images from the uprising that have so far remained unseen.

Source: Journalism.co.uk

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has subpoenaed Apple to testify in their ongoing antitrust investigation again Google. Specifically, they're interested in the deal Google made to be the default search engine on the iPhone. Since Google enjoys an incredibly dominant market position in search, the government wants to find out if they're abusing that position to unfairly keep out competitors.

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 signaled the beginning of a shift from desktop to mobile search, and from search to apps. Google reportedly pays Apple millions a year to maintain default status on the iPhone to preserve their search share, and has developed the competing Android platform to help cement their position in mobile.

What, if anything, the FTC hopes to discover through Apple's testimony is unknown. Bing, which replaced Microsoft Live search in 2009, and the now Bing-powered Yahoo! are both user-selectable options in iOS, and Apple and Google relationship has soured considerably since Android's launch.

Typically, there'd need to be a clear sign of abuse, such as bundling (refusal to allow the use of a dominant product/service unless a less-dominant product/service is taken as well). The Next Webs Matthew Panzarino offers some speculation:

Some have postulated that the deal had something to do with Apple’s desire to have Google maps on the iPhone. Two sources, one at Google and one at a company that produces Apple-competing mobile devices, have told us previously that Google licenses map data exclusively to Apple outside of its own Android food chain.

More as this develops.

Source: Adam Santarino/Bloomberg via AllThingsD, The Next Web

A class action suit has been raised against Apple claiming Siri does not appear to work as advertised. Siri was launched as a key feature of the iPhone 4S however it has always carried the tag of beta software. This has not deterred a New York man from suing Apple for false advertising over Siri’s capabilities. Frank M.Fazio purchased his iPhone 4S back in November and is now part of a class of people who feel mislead by Apple.

In many of Apple’s television advertisements, individuals are shown using Siri to make appointments, find restaurants, and even learn the guitar chords to classic rock songs or how to tie a tie. In the commercials, all of these tasks are done with ease with the assistance of the iPhone 4S’s Siri feature, a represented functionality contrary to the actual operating results and performance of Siri.

Source: WSJ

Following its introduction last week, the idea that the new iPad was "unbeatable" began to get a lot of attention, primarily due to an article in Slate with that very title. Indeed, when seeing a product like the new iPad, it's easy to get swept away -- there's just so much technology wrapped in so beautiful a package for such an unbelievable price that it's almost impossible not to. I get that. But it's not true.

Nothing and no one is unbeatable. Not the iPad. Not Apple.

In an industry of titans, no one has ever seen the next big transition coming. IBM didn't. Microsoft didn't. Sony didn't. HP didn't. Yahoo didn't. Google won't. Facebook won't. And neither will Apple.

The only advantage Apple has is that they've been there before, prior to the second coming of Steve Jobs, when Michael Dell was suggesting they turn off the lights and return the money to the shareholders.

The Mac was beaten. Apple was beaten.

Because of that, I don't think Apple considers themselves or any of their products unbeatable. I think they actively fear the complacency that comes with that kind of thinking.

It's dangerous.

Apple literally wants to stay hungry and stay foolish in so far as they never settle for what they're doing now and relentlessly explore what they could be doing better in the future. The near future.

Apple is like Balboa after Clubber Lang clobbered him early on in the third Rocky movie. Microsoft took the PC championship from them. They'll never forget that beating and they're working their collective asses off to make sure the same doesn't happen in the rematch.

Like Steve Jobs said in his famous Stanford address, once you know you're going to die, you achieve an amazing clarity. Once you know you can be beaten, you likewise develop an amazing freedom.

They're naked. Not trapped into defending the revenue streams of the past at the expense of future success. Rather they're relentless, almost to a reckless degree, about embracing it.

They ditched the floppy drive in favor of USB and the internet. They obsoleted the iPod with the iPhone. They cut into Mac sales with the iPad.

They've done everything every one of their competitors is terrified to do. And they've done it because they not only know they're beatable, but because they're intent on proving it again and again, year in and year out -- by beating themselves.

Tim Cook said as much during the new iPad keynote, and Steve Jobs has said it before.

That's what makes Apple dangerous.

The knowledge that they're beatable.

In response to: Slate

Apple's Senior Vice President of Design, Jony Ive is the man who put form to everything from the iMac to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. He's given a rare interview to the Evening Standard where he comments on everything from his recent knighthood to Apple's conceptual process.

Q: Why has Apple’s competition struggled to do that?

A: Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals. A product has to be genuinely better. This requires real discipline, and that’s what drives us — a sincere, genuine appetite to do something that is better.

Ive also comments on the importance of prototyping and the physicality of objects.

Q: How does a new product come about at Apple?

A: What I love about the creative process, and this may sound naive, is this idea that one day there is no idea, and no solution, but then the next day there is an idea. Where you see the most dramatic shift is when you transition from an abstract idea to a slightly more material conversation. But when you make a 3D model, however crude, you bring form to a nebulous idea and everything changes — the entire process shifts. It galvanises and brings focus from a broad group of people. It’s a remarkable process.

Throughout the interview he keeps hitting on "better" and "focus", and believes consumers can tell the difference.

Check out the link below to read the interview in it's entirety, and for more, the video from the movie Objectified, where Ive comments on similar ideas.

Source: Evening Standard

You asked for an accurate blood glucose meter that would fit seamlessly into your busy lifestyle. We listened and are introducing the new iBGStar, a blood glucose meter for the 21st century designed with you in mind by the company with over 85 years of insulin expertise. The innovative iBGStar is the first available blood glucose meter that seamlessly connects to the iPhone and iPod touch allowing you to view and analyse accurate, reliable information in ‘real time’. Using the technology built into your iPhone or iPod touch, you can share this information with your healthcare professional while on-the-go, to help you make better-informed diabetes-related decisions together.

Source: iBGStar

A few tethering applications have appeared in the App Store only to be pulled very soon after. One such application was iTether, it appeared back in November 2011 and was pulled on the same day it launched. The app cost $14.99 and used USB to connect your Mac to your iPhone to use its data connection. The app bypassed the usual carrier tethering charges which probably explains why it was pulled.

Now the developer behind iTether has returned with a new service which is simply called Tether. The new service is based on HTML 5 so there is no need to source the app through the App Store.

"It was clear from our initial application iTether, there was enormous demand within the iPhone ecosystem," says Tim Burke, CEO of Tether. "It was unfortunate that Apple decided to remove our application, only 20 hours after we launched. However, this caused us to innovate. Our underlying patent-pending technology behind Tether for iPhone is unlike anything on the market." Tether's new version for the iPhone is purely based on HTML5 and creates a completely wireless connection over AdHoc. This circumvents the need of buying the application directly from Apple's App Store and allows any iPhone or iPad with a data connection to allow tethering.

Source: Tether

Bad news if you are planning on pre-ordering the new Apple TV for delivery on March 16. The shipping estimate has slipped to a rather vague 1-2 week instead of the original guaranteed delivery on March 16.

Apple announced the new Apple TV at its media event yesterday along with the new iPad. The new Apple TV now offers 1080p video playback, iTunes Movies in the cloud and also comes with a revamped user interface. It looks like it is going to be a very popular upgrade!

Source: Apple Store

Apple has made the complete new iPad event keynote video available through iTunes. You can find the video under Podcasts > Technology > Tech news > Apple Inc > Apple Keynotes. You can then download just the event video or subscribe to all future events when they become available.

The free download is 980.9 MB; so if you are on a slow connection it may take a while to download. You can always see the event as a stream on Apple's site if you can't wait for the download.

Source: iTunes

I've watched the new iPad event twice now. They hit most of the notes most of us expected -- including the Retina display, LTE 4G networking, and iPhoto for iOS. The way in which they hit those notes, however, and some of the notes they didn't hit, were just as interesting and revealed as much about the new iPad as they did the new Apple.

This is a subset of a much longer, more involved, more interesting discussion I had with Georgia and AppCubby's David Barnard earlier tonight on iPhone & iPad Live. We'll post that show tomorrow, but here's the gist:

Tim Cook remains solid as an event anchor. He's measured, methodical, and supremely knowledgeable about Apple and their products. That sounds obvious, but many CEOs don't come off that way. He's an operations guy, not a product guy, but he's better than 99% of the keynote speakers out there, and if anyone knocks him it's only be he's taken over from the best keynote speaker in the history of the industry, the late Steve Jobs. That stage was owned by Jobs. He was infectiously engaging yet, at the same time, looked as though, at any moment, he could spin around and end you with a glare. That's an impossible act to follow. That Cook turned in a solid performance, that Phil Schiller remained affable and informative, that Eddy Cue brought a little bass, was not only commendable, but given the circumstances, phenomenal.

That Scott Forstall wasn't on stage was as notable as iOS not really being on stage. After the longest beta cycle that I can remember, iOS 5.1 was announced by Tim Cook as being available immediately. There was no GM (Gold Master) build for developers to test out, and apparently none needed since there were very few new, customer facing features. The original iPad release in 2010 had Forstall on stage showing off iOS 3.2 and the new iPad interface itself -- how the built in apps had been re-built to take advantage of a 1024x768 9.7-inch display. With the iPad 2 in 2011 Forstall showed how iOS 4.2 unified the platform and brought everything from multitasking to folders to the iPad. With the new iPad this year, nothing. iOS was less keynote and more footnote. (No doubt iOS 6 will be the star of Apple's WWDC this summer.)

Same with the new Apple TV. It did get a new interface (which I'm not wild about -- more on that in the review), and a new model that is software-identical in every way with the exception of 1080p video support. However, the new Apple TV wasn't even announced as peripheral to the iPad, but as peripheral to the 1080p video. The original Apple TV got the full Steve Jobs treatment during the original iPhone keynote no less. The 2nd generation Apple TV got similar treatment during the 2010 iTunes and iPod event. This one got an "if you also want." That's going from "hobby" to "aside". Whether that's a sign the living room is still in a holding pattern for Apple, or it's the calm before an Apple television storm is hard to say.

Either way, it's more than the iPod touch got. The iPod touch now the only iOS device that hasn't received an update to the latest generation hardware specs, and the iOS device that's gone the longest ever without receiving an update -- since fall of 2010. Once positioned as a gaming platform, it briefly enjoyed a processor that out-clocked even the iPhone. Now two generations behind when it comes to internal architecture, stuck on the A4 to the iPhone 4S' A5 and the new iPad's A5X, it's hard to see where it fits in Apple's plans beyond "cheapest gateway to the App Store". Starting at $199, it's competitive with budget tablets, even if half the size, so maybe that's enough for now.

And yeah, Apple went with the A5X system-on-a-chip, which we heard would be quad-core but turned out to be dual core for the CPU and quad-core for the GPU. Apple stressed the quad-core and the GPU, and touted the graphics performance far more than the raw processing power, but the proc itself is dual. (At least that may explain the divergent rumors.)

Maintaining 10 hours of battery life with the denser, Retina display screen is impressive. Maintaining 9 hours of battery life with a 4G LTE radio is flabbergasting. Speaking of which, one 4G LTE model to support AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, and another to support Verizon, and no word on Asian, Australian, or European 4G LTE is likely to frustrate people outside North America. It's a hell of a radio, though, with HSPA+ 42mbps support as well, and the most bands ever according to Apple. That will no doubt make it tough for some to decide which network to go with.

Tethering is a huge plus as well.

Keeping the price point identical the iPad 2, given the sheer amount of new technology in the new iPad was most impressive. Those panels and those radios can't have lowered the bill of goods. Keeping the iPad 2 around at a $100 discount was just as impressive. It lowers the price differential between the cheapest iPad and the $299 budget tablets, and it makes the platform more accessible than ever to schools and Enterprise that don't need or don't want all the bells and whistles. For cash-strapped consumers, deciding between the $399 iPad 2 and $499 new iPad might be just as tough.

Glass shelves in iPhoto for iOS show skeumorphism is alive and well, perhaps more so than ever with all the faux brushes and other effects. It wasn't the more graceful Aperture-like experience I hoped for, and the user interface isn't as elegant as Apple achieved with GarageBand for iOS. It does complete the iLife package (iWeb and iDVD are dead, thank you very much), however, and pushes the iPad further into the content creation space.

It does Sherlock photo editing apps, but as Avid Studio showed against iMovie, there's still a lot of room for 3rd parties to show off. (Too bad Photoshop Touch didn't stick their landing.)

Siri didn't get any iPad user interface love at all. The idea of moving Siri over to the bigger iPad screen was a challenge to begin with. As Alex Heath postulated, they went with a subset -- voice dictation rather than something more ambitious or nothing at all. That eases one of my text entry pain point, but it means Reminders will remain an app I populate solely via Siri on the iPhone 4S.

While Apple has previously referred to "the new iPods", they didn't brand them as such, in giant Myriad letters.

Now the name. "The new iPad". The logic is sound -- it's not MacBook Air 3, after all, it's just MacBook Air. In theory it's cleaner and stronger branding. At least it would be if "The new" didn't squeak every time it turned around too fast. It's also a little awkward if a first time customer walks into a store and sees an "iPad 2" on the shelf next to an "iPad" and the "iPad 2" is the older, less-good-but-cheaper option. In a couple of generations, when the iPad 2 is a memory and it's been just "iPad" for years, it won't matter. But it does feel out of place right now. (And yes, Leanna predicted the next iPhone would be simply the "iPhone" so kudos to her for the concept, even if Apple beat her to the timeline.)

(Technically, like iPods and Macs, Apple refers to "the new iPad" as iPad (3rd generation) on product order and support pages, and it has an internal model number of iPad 3,x, so you can still be precise if you ever need to be.)

Phil Schiller was quoted rather broadly as saying the new name was a sign Apple didn't want to be predictable. That sounds like when the brilliant head chef has left the restaurant and the apprentices finally have direct access to the spice rack. It's no longer all saffron all the time, exactly the way they're told. There's more variety, more individuality, more nuance. Sometimes refreshingly so, sometimes head-scratchingly so. It may not always be as perfect, but it's even more exciting.

That rather neatly sums up both "the new iPad" and the new Apple.

Apple hasn't forgotten their roots -- they still bleed in six colors, they're just more willing to mix it up now.

Apple has wasted very little time posting the video stream from today’s new iPad event as it is now live on Apple’s events page. You can now see for yourself how Apple introduced the upgraded Apple TV as well as the next generation iPad wtih a stunning 2048 x 1536 Retina display.

You can watch the complete keynote right now on Apple.com. It hasn’t arrived in iTunes as a podcast as of yet; we will keep an eye out for it and let you know as soon as it does.

Source : Apple Events

Apple has increased the 20 MB app download limit to 50 MB when connected to a cellular network. This comes as a surprise, as it was not announced during today's event alongside the new iPad.

Previously, when connected to a 3G network, if you attempted to download an app the was over 20 MB, a popup would appear instructing you to connect to a Wi-Fi network in order to download. Now, that warning only appears when the app is over 50 MB -- which is a huge app; or, it used to be. Soon we'll be seeing Retina display iPad graphics included in universal apps, which could easily make even rather modest apps reach 50 - 60 MB.

Since the new iPad will be available with 4G LTE connectivity, the size increase makes perfect sense -- for LTE. Including 3G with the size increase is the cherry on top. Let's just hope it's enough. Those of us with capped data plans will just need to pay a little more attention to our monthly usage as app size increases.

Source: AppAdvice

iOS 5.1 for iPhone and iPad is now available over-the-air (OTA) and in iTunes!

While we haven't tested it yet, it looks like we will need to put 5.1 on our iPads before we can see the updates to the iWork and iLife apps mentioned today.

To download OTA, launch settings, tap General, then Software Update, and the update should pop up with an option to Download and install. To download via iTunes, just plug your iPhone or iPad into your computer and open iTunes -- a message informing you of the available update should pop right up.

Now what are you waiting for? Go grab it!

We will keep you updated as we install the update and see what features are available immediately!