Category Archives: Apple Events

By Staff | Published: June 6, 2011

iOS 5 unveiled, to be available later this fall

iOS 5

Credit: Engadget

As expected, Apple revealed the next major upgrade to their famous mobile platform during the WWDC keynote this morning.

First, availability: iOS 5 will be available as a developer seed today, with general availability later this fall.

It will be compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2, third and fourth generation iPod touch. It will be free for owners of all those devices.

Today, they walked through some major features of the new operating system.

Notification Center

This is an overhaul of the existing notification system in iOS which is in charge of telling you about missed calls, text messages, Push notifications and other events.

Previously, notifications would pop up over whatever you were doing and could not be reviewed at a later time if dismissed. Read more

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By Staff | Published: June 6, 2011

Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” Announced

Lion

Note: Our apologies for the inaccurate title/url, we assumed they would do a release today and didn’t catch the title before publishing -ed

After 22 months of development, Apple has finally released the next major version of Mac OS X: 10.7 codename “Lion”.

First the availability details: new Macs will come with Lion preinstalled, but everyone else will have to get it from the Mac App Store. That’s right, no discs, no retail boxes of any kind.

We do expect them to continue making USB restore drives available to Mac buyers, and there will likely be a way to create one if needed.

Developers will get a “preview” version today, with customer availability in July.

Pricing is $29.99 this time around, and once bought you can install Lion on all of your App Store “Authorized” Macs. Read more

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By Staff | Published: May 31, 2011

Apple to launch iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud during WWDC

WWDC 2011

Apple has announced that on June 6th, Steve Jobs will lead the WWDC keynote this year:

Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software – Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.

Absent is any mention of a new iPhone model, leading some to speculate that the event will be purely about the new software offerings and of course, developers. This would be the first time since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 that Apple altered their schedule of releasing a new iPhone model each year at WWDC. Read more

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By Staff | Published: March 28, 2011

WWDC 2011 Preview

WWDC 2011

Apple has announced the time and place for their World Wide Developers Conference this year. It will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco June 6th through June 10th.

Over 1,000 Apple engineers guide you through five exciting days of in-depth technical sessions and hands-on labs that demonstrate how to harness the incredible power of the world’s most advanced operating systems into your apps.

Apple currently lists 5 “technology tracks” that will be the theme of developer labs and sessions –

  • Application Frameworks
  • Graphics, Media, and Games
  • Developer Tools
  • Internet and Web
  • Core OS

In addition, Apple will once again be hosting the Apple Design Awards which “recognize technical excellence and outstanding achievement in iPhone, iPad, and Mac app design and development”. Read more

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By Staff | Published: March 2, 2011

iOS 4.3 to be released March 11th

iOS 4.3

During the iPad event today, Apple announced that the iOS 4.3 update would be available March 11th to coincide with the availability of the iPad 2.

The new version includes a Personal Hotspot feature that will allow customers who subscribe to an Internet tethering plan from their carrier, to use the iPhone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. This allows other devices, such as a laptop or a Wi-Fi iPad to use the iPhone as an internet connection.

Unfortunately the new feature will only be enabled on the iPhone 4. Whether or not this is a hardware limitation or simply a product differentiation strategy, we can’t say for sure.

As we found out a few weeks ago, the new iOS update will allow iPad owners to use the physical switch on the side of their device as a rotation lock once again. Read more

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By Staff | Published: March 2, 2011

Apple reveals the iPad 2

iPad 2. Credit: Engadget

iPad 2. Credit: Engadget

Today at the Yerba Buena center in San Francisco, Apple unveiled their 2nd generation tablet computer, the iPad 2.

Steve Jobs was present to demonstrate the new model, which features a much faster Apple A5 processor and a new, dramatically faster graphics coprocessor, up to “9x faster” according to Jobs.

Despite the faster processor and improved graphics performance, Apple says the battery life of the new model is the same as the old model, 10 hours.

While many hoped for a “Retina display” this time around, it was not to be. The iPad 2 has a 1024×768 IPS display, which is similar if not identical to the one in the old model.

The new iPad 2 also has dual cameras similar to the iPhone 4: one on the front face for video calling, and one on the back for taking pictures. Read more

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By Staff | Published: February 23, 2011

Apple schedules iPad event for March 2nd

The Loop is reporting that Apple has sent invitations out for an Apple Event next Wednesday, March 2nd:

According to the invitation received by The Loop, the event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am. This is the same venue Apple has used to introduce a number of products in recent years.

While it’s obvious that this event is primarily about the new iPad, we’re certain that Apple will also say something about the recently unveiled subscription billing policy that many developers, publishers and tech journalists feel is going to harm the iOS ecosystem in the long run.

The iPad 2 is rumored to be a performance boosting upgrade, with more RAM and a faster ARM processor, but it’s also likely they’ll bump the flash storage capacity of each model as well, with the base model starting at 32GB. Read more

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By Staff | Published: November 15, 2010

Apple posts iTunes teaser front and center on Apple.com

Apple.com

Apple has replaced the front page of Apple.com with a teaser for something iTunes-related due to happen tomorrow morning, Tuesday, November 16th.

In large bolded text, the page reads “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget”. Under that text is a curiously worded invitation to check back Tuesday for an “exciting announcement from iTunes”.

And under the text are 4 clocks each showing a different time from California, New York, London and Tokyo, which could be a clever way for Apple to announce that whatever is going to happen tomorrow, will happen at 10AM Eastern Time, but will be relevant for everyone around the world, at least in markets which currently have an iTunes Store.

Apple would not make such a big deal out of releasing iOS 4.2, however they would make a big deal out something like cloud based iTunes streaming or a subscription music service. Read more

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By Staff | Published: October 20, 2010

FaceTime comes to the Mac

Facetime for Mac

Facetime for Mac

Apple used todays Media Event to announce FaceTime for Mac OS X, allowing interoperability with “19 million other devices” that support the video calling system. The new software is available only for Macs running OS X 10.6.4, and is available today as a beta from Apple’s website.

During the event, Jobs referred to FaceTime as the “first video calling on mobile devices”, which of course is not true, but we have no doubt it is the first built in video calling system that people will actually use, particularly if they can communicate with people back at home using Macs and potentially other desktop or laptop computers.

Though FaceTime for Mac beta is a separate application, much of the core functionality is shipped inside the .App bundle as Frameworks which will likely be included in a future Mac OS X update as system wide frameworks. Read more

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By Staff | Published: October 20, 2010

Redesigned Macbook Air unveiled

Macbook Air

Twins

Macbook Air got a complete overhaul today; gone are the slow storage options, the single screen size and the flip out door for ports, in their place we have 2 new models with updated specs and lower prices.

Before we get to the specs though, Jobs made an interesting statement during the presentation, he called the new Air “the future of notebooks”. We could write that off as marketing speak, however an even stronger statement is now prominently displayed on the Macbook Air product page, which you can see below:

Next Generation of Macbooks

Next Generation of Macbooks

The Next Generation of Macbooks. It’s hard to take that any other way so we’ll just say it, Apple plans to replace the white macbook line with these new Air devices at some point in the near future. Read more

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By Staff | Published: October 19, 2010

October 20th Apple Event preview

Steve Jobs will once again take to the stage tomorrow, Wednesday October 20th at the “Town Hall” on Apple’s Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino, California to unveil a new round of products and technology previews with his infamous headline-grabbing presentation style. What will be announced? Grapevine consensus appears to have a firm grasp of the big picture, but as to the details….

With a few notable exceptions (the small number of people working on certain projects within Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion,” internal code name ‘Barolo,’ force us to sit on details of those projects until after the Event when even if those projects aren’t mentioned during the Event, they will be known to a wider group within Infinite Loop and leaks can no longer be tied so easily to our sources), what we’ve been told by some of our oldest and most reliable contacts in Cupertino comports very closely with the grapevine’s consensus of what to expect tomorrow:

*Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” as hinted by Apple’s logo for the Event:

Apple's Back to the Mac October 20th Apple Event logo

….Lion is a collection of long-standing projects, many of them held back from the Leopard and Snow Leopard development cycles because they were too ambitious and too out of sync with Apple’s priorities at the time to make the cut for those releases. Read more

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By Staff | Published: October 13, 2010

Apple schedules Mac-focused Media Event October 20th

Back to the Mac.

Apple has sent out press invitations for a Media Event one week from today on October 20th that will be focused on the Mac, to be held at 10AM in Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

As is typical for Apple, they have included a clue in the promotional image, a Lion peaking out from behind a tilted Apple logo. Taking that in combination with the tagline for the event, “Back to the Mac.”, it’s likely that Apple will at least offer a preview of Mac OS X 10.7 codenamed “Lion”, though a release is probably still months away.

Apple’s notebook lineup is also due for a refresh, particularly the Macbook Air which has been neglected for quite some time, and has been the subject of rumors concerning a potential shrink from the 13.3″ form factor down to a netbook-like 11″ screen. Read more

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By Staff | Published: September 1, 2010

Apple updates iPod Touch with cameras, Facetime

The new 2010 iPod Touch has been revealed, including features that were expected but not included on the 2009 model.

4th Generation iPod Touch

4th Generation iPod Touch

At just 7.2mm thick, the new Touch has shed some of its bulk including that rounded back many users complained about. A new microphone is included to support FaceTime, but should also work with other applications on the App Store.

As expected the new iPod Touch is running on Apples A4 processor just like the iPad, iPhone 4, and newly released AppleTV. While Apple doesn’t like to publicize the amount of RAM in iOS devices, the current generation iPhone has 512MB so that would be a safe bet for the iPod Touch.

Apple also gave the new touch a significant screen upgrade: Apple’s Retina display at 960×540 resolution. Read more

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By Staff | Published: September 1, 2010

New AppleTV loses the Hobby, gains streaming and TV rentals

Apple has finally taken the Apple TV out of ‘hobby’ status and loaded it up with features that will appeal to a wider audience.

2nd Generation AppleTV

2nd Generation AppleTV

The new AppleTV model shrinks from 7″ square, for the previous model, to just 3.9″ square and slightly less than 1″ tall. In sharp contrast to the older model, which was essentially a Mac running special software, the new AppleTV is an iOS device running on Apple’s own A4 ARM processor.

The move to an ARM processor means the new AppleTV is much cooler and more power efficient than the older model. Note that the new AppleTV does not have an App Store at this time, though it is nearly certain that it will be jailbroken at some point. Read more

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By Staff | Published: September 1, 2010

Apple announces new iPod Shuffle, Nano

Apple’s 2010 music event brought a number of welcome updates to most of the models in the iPod lineup. The shuffle has regained the buttons that were removed in the 3rd generation models, the nano became much smaller and gained a clip much like the shuffle has, and the nano also became an iOS device complete with a multitouch screen.

4th Generation iPod Shuffle

4th Generation Shuffle

Apple’s 4th generation iPod Shuffle returns to a more square form factor and regains the buttons that were completely removed from the 3rd generation.

Storage available for songs is still 2GB, and pricing is still $49.

Genius mixes are now available on the iPod Shuffle as well as multiple playlists.

The VoiceOver assist features are still present, including a new VoiceOver button on the top edge. Read more

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