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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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Response
By Staff | Published: October 7, 2010

iPhone (un)officially coming to Verizon by years end

Verizon iPhone

Unicorn

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple and Verizon have worked out a deal that will bring the iPhone to the largest mobile network in the U.S. sometime before the end of 2010.

Citing the omniscient “people familiar with the matter”, WSJ’s Yukari Iwatani Kane And Ting-I Tsai boldly proclaim that “AT&T Inc. is about to lose its lock on the iPhone”, something the tech press has been claiming repeatedly for the last 12-18 months as a Verizon iPhone was said to be “just around the corner”.

This year, the WSJ has been stoking the CDMA iPhone flames every few weeks, with rumors of Pegatron Technology Corp. being trusted with production for the new device, or Qualcomm chips being used to provide the CDMA connectivity. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
By Staff | Published: September 9, 2010

Native Google Voice app coming back to App Store

Twitter message

Twitter message

In a Twitter message just posted earlier tonight, Sean Kovacs announced that Apple will “most likely” approve his GV Mobile application once he resubmits it to the review process.

Kovacs noted in an earlier twitter message that his application fully complies with all 110+ of the recently announced “guidelines” for App Store approval and rejection.

GV Mobile was pulled from the App Store back in 2009 along with another application written by Riverturn called Voice Central. Both applications are native interfaces for the Google Voice service, which aim to make placing and receiving calls, listening to voice mail, and using SMS messaging easier using your Google Voice account.

During the same time period that these two applications were removed from the App Store, Google itself was waiting for approval for their own Google Voice application, which was, according to Apple, neither accepted or rejected but remains “under study”. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store | Tagged , , | 1 Response
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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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , | 1 Response
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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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , , | 4 Responses
By Staff | Published: July 20, 2010

Apple posts record Q3 revenue, defers some iPhone revenue until December

Apple held its Q3 2010 earnings call this afternoon, announcing its best quarter ever, even when compared to previous holiday quarters. Net income was up 78%, with revenues of $15.3 Billion compared to $9.73 Billion from the same quarter last year, with net quarterly profit of $3.25 Billion or $3.51 per diluted share.

The company reports it has sold 3.47 million Macs during the Q3 period, mostly to consumers and education partners, along with 8.4 million iPhones, 9.41 million iPods, and 3.27 million iPads.

That iPad sales figure is particularly interesting, because in the near future Apple will probably be selling more iPads than Macs per quarter, however the company does not see this as cannibalization but rather a synergy, iPad owners may end up also buying Macs just like iPod owners have done in the past. Read more

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Posted in Apple Inc. | Tagged , , | 1 Response
By Staff | Published: July 15, 2010

The July 2010 press conference

To our knowledge this has not happened since Steve Jobs took back the reigns in 1997: Apple has scheduled a press conference for Friday, July 16th, seemingly without a new product to announce.

The safe bet here is that Apple intends to address complaints about potential antenna problems on the new iPhone 4, however the main software “fix” the company intends to provide has already been set loose in the wild with iOS 4.0.1 released just moments ago. This new build of iOS includes a change in the way the device calculates signal strength for display, and also makes the smallest 3 display bars appear larger as you can see below.

iOS signal display change

Old display on top. Credit: Engadget

Of course, the web is boiling over with guesses about what else Apple plans to do to address the antenna issue, as well as alternate explanations for why Apple would call a press conference like this. Read more

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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: June 15, 2010

Unibody Mac Mini pops in at midnight

After 5 years, the Mac Mini has finally received a complete redesign. Along with updated internal components and other welcome changes, the new Mini sports a very slim Unibody look much like the AppleTV:

Mini front

Mini back

The Mini is now a 7.7 inch square at 1.4 inches tall, compared to the old mini which was 6.5 inches square and 2 inches tall. The dimensions are quite similar to an AppleTV which is also 7.7 inches square but only 1.1 inches tall.

Gone is the white plastic panel on the top surface, the entire case is now one piece of aluminum with a user access panel on the bottom that can be removed with 3 screws with a simple twist, a welcome change for Mini lovers who are accustomed to wedging the old model open with a putty knife. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Responses
By Staff | Published: June 7, 2010

Apple announces iPhone 4, iOS 4, iMovie

Steve Jobs delivered Apple’s 2010 WWDC keynote today, announcing a new iPhone, a number of new iPhone apps, and updated device and App Store sales data.

First things first, the new iPhone. Apple has named it iPhone 4, and it looks exactly like the leaked prototype everyone has already seen. It will be available in black and white, at the same price points as the current 3GS: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB. There is no 64GB model at the moment. They’ve also dropped the 3G model completely, and the 8GB 3GS is now available for $99.

iPhone 4

iPhone 4

Current iPhone users can upgrade to the new device for the retail price as long as their contract expires some time in 2010, though you must agree to another 2 year contract. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store, Apple Events, Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Responses
By Staff | Published: June 7, 2010

WWDC 2010 Preview

Today, Apple will present several new products to its third party developer community…and through the tremendous press scrunity — not to mention what Steve Jobs recently called (an undesirable) “nation of bloggers” (ahem) — by extension the larger world of its users, enthusiasts and curious potential ‘switchers.’

Some of them will be software, some will be hardware, but most if not all will likely manage to attract their own little cyclonic orbits of controversy.

Here are some of the grapevine’s expectations; stay with us over the week ahead for post-event analysis and fresh dirt on what’s next from Infinite Loop. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store, Apple Events, Apple Hardware, Apple Inc., Apple Software, Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
By Staff | Published: June 2, 2010

Data caps, tethering arrive on the iPhone, iPad

Barely one month after the iPad 3G went on sale promising users unlimited 3G data for a reasonable price, AT&T has now decided that data caps make more sense and has done away with the $29 unlimited plan.

As of June 7th, the company will offer 2 data-capped plans for all smartphones, the $15 DataPlus plan which comes with 200MB of transfer per month, and the $25 DataPro plan which comes with 2GB of transfer per month. Overage charges for each plan are $15 per 200MB or $10 per 1GB, respectively.

These same data plans also apply to new iPhone contracts, existing users of both iPhone and iPad data plans will be allowed to keep the unlimited option even if they buy a new iPhone (for now), but new iPhone and iPad users will choose between the 2 new capped plans. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Articles | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Responses
By Staff | Published: April 20, 2010

Another record financial quarter for Apple

Apple hosted its quarterly earnings call today at 5PM EDT, announcing revenue of $13.50 billion and net profit of $3.07 billion or $3.33 per diluted share, up from $1.62 billion net profit and $1.79 per diluted share from one year ago. Gross margin was 41.7 percent, up from 39.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter’s revenue. Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer predicted that the company expects to see revenue of $13.0 billion to $13.4 billion for Q3 2010 along with earnings per share between $2.28 and $2.39.

The press release posted to the Apple website quotes Steve Jobs as saying Apple had its “best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 percent and profits up 90 percent”. Read more

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Posted in Apple Inc. | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Responses
By Staff | Published: April 8, 2010

iPhone OS 4.0 Summary

Today’s iPhone OS 4.0 preview included plenty of new features that have been requested by developers and users alike. We’ll run through a quick summary of the major additions to the operating system and go in-depth as more information becomes available.

One of the biggest features that Apple has now added to iPhone OS 4.0 is multitasking, implemented in a way that prevents Apps from draining the battery or slowing performance. Apple listed 7 core functions that would be provided by APIs for use by developers:

  • Background Audio
  • Voice over IP
  • Background location
  • Push notifications
  • Local notifications
  • Task completion
  • Fast app switching

Applications that were demoed performing functions in the background include Skype, which allowed a call to remain connected, Pandora, which kept streaming audio running, and TomTom which continued to provide turn-by-turn directions even after the user had switched away from the App itself. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store, Apple Events, Apple Software | Tagged , , , | 4 Responses
By Staff | Published: April 5, 2010

Apple announces iPhone OS 4.0 event

iPhone OS 4 Preview Event

Just days after the successful launch of the iPad, Apple sent out invitations for a media event at their Cupertino headquarters scheduled for April 8th, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. The invite banner, which can be seen above, leaves no doubt that the company will be previewing the next major version of their mobile operating system, iPhone OS 4.0.

Apple is widely expected to unveil new multitasking capabilities along with a user interface refresh. One feature nearly certain to appear in the new iPhone OS was promised to a concerned customer by Steve Jobs himself in an email sent from his iPad: a unified email inbox for the iPhone Mail application, similar to an identical feature found in the desktop Mac OS X Mail application. Read more

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