With both Mothers Day and a birthday in the family this weekend, I didn't have time to compile my usual weekly column. But there are a few things I'd like to comment on and draw your attention to. So let's dive right in.
Podcasts
We've changed up the format of iPhone & iPad Live so that we're talking about less, but talking about it more in-depth. We'd gotten a bunch of feedback about this over the last few months, with many viewers and listeners saying there was just too much news and not enough analysis, too many app mentions and not enough opinion or discussion about how we use them, too many accessories and not enough comparisons. Well, we listened. Now we have one, more in-depth spotlight topic each week and a couple of discussion points. We're still tweaking things, so please keep the feedback coming. (Due to popular demand, we're going to start featuring your feedback on the show as well -- so if you haven't left a comment on last week's episode yet, get to it!)
Speaking of podcasts, the feedback on ZEN and TECH lately has been off the charts (special thanks to the blogging community who've told us how much they like it). The world we live in is more stressful than ever, and Georgia is by far the best in the business at helping people center their inner geek and deal with their connected lives. If you haven't watched or listened lately, do yourself a favor and watch or listen now. It can literally change your life for the better.
Last but certainly not least, we had Loren Brichter on Iterate this week. He created Tweetie which became the original Twitter for iPhone, and is still Twitter for iPad and Twitter for Mac. He also invented pull-to-refresh. Yeah. Genius. Give him a listen.
Rumors
iMore is really careful about rumors because we really value your attention. We're not a rumor site -- we're an enthusiast site. 9 out of 10 times we'll just link to rumors posted on rumor sites. A few times a year, however, we're fortunate to get some really good information about upcoming Apple products, and we're able to check into it and determine it's really good information. Like the iPhone 4S and the new iPad. It's never all the details, so sometimes we misunderstand pieces (i.e. we heard quad-core for the new iPad, and it turned out to be specifically quad-core graphics, not CPU), but overall the info we've gotten has been rock solid.
- 7-inch iPad on track for October 2012 release, $200 to $250 price: Apple doesn't want to leave any room for Amazon in the lower-end tablet space.
- iPhone 5 to be another Google killer -- but with a twist: A new Apple-powered Maps app in iOS 6 might just be the tip of the iceberg.
- iPhone 5 design still not finalized, still no big screen, still no metal back, still on track for October release: Despite some recent rumors to the contrary, we've heard Apple hasn't settled on a widescreen display or metal back yet.
Features
Some great stuff this week:
- Jailbreak concepts Apple should implement in iOS 6 by Ally Kazmucha. Last year Apple took Notification Center, Wi-Fi sync, and more from jailbreak. What should they take this year?
- Is there a future for jailbreak? by Ally Kazmucha. On the flip side, if Apple keeps Sherlocking jailbreak, is there a future left for it?
- Weekly Photo Contest: Black and White! by Leanna Lofte. She's been showing you how to build your iPhone photography skills, and here's your chance to wins some prizes.
- iOS 6: The opposite of widgets by yours truly. Rather than having widgets that take information from apps and splay it on the Home screen, we want that info inside other apps.
- SkyDrive vs. Dropbox vs. Google Drive: best cloud storage option for iPhone and iPad users by Ally Kazmucha. Whether you're new to cloud storage or simply want to check out other options, here's your breakdown.
And the stylus showdown begins:
- SGP Kuel H12 stylus for iPad review by Georgia. Your best bet for long-form note-taking.
- Adonit Jot Pro stylus for iPad review by Georgia. What you want if you're a technical artist.
- Wacom Bamboo Stylus review by Georgia. An okay stylus but not as good or as cheap as the pro-level competition.
Keep an eye out for a pro-stylus battle royal on iMore TV this week!
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