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iPad 3 displays already shipping to Apple
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Displays, Handhelds, Rumors,
We're entering that special time of year. No, not the season when people begin to wrap presents and trim their trees, but those months leading up to the period when it's assumed that Apple will launch its next-gen tablet that iPad rumors abound.
The latest report comes from Digitimes, which has claimed makers of iPad displays including Samsung, LG, and Sharp shipped one million high-res panels for the iPad 3 in October. It also said these suppliers will increase shipments to two million units in November.
Apple will begin assembling the third iPad in January of 2012, Digitimes also said.
It alleged that Apple is developing a new 7.85-inch panel, and suppliers AU Optronics (AUO) and LG have already sent samples to Apple. However, Digitimes said it couldn't determine whether or not Apple would add an iPad of this size to its line next year.
Click to continue reading iPad 3 displays already shipping to Apple
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Apple thinking of discontinuing the Mac Pro
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Rumors,
Apple is rumored to be mulling whether to continue investing in its Mac Pro line of workstations beyond 2011 with executives at the company reportedly agreeing that "Mac Pro's days ... [are] inevitably numbered."
Sales of its workstations have dropped off to the point that continuing to make them is "no longer a particularly profitable operation" for Apple, while improvements to the company's consumer line of Mac products has decreased the performance gap with the professional-targeted Mac Pro line, according to a report by Apple Insider.
In fact, Apple management has been "in limbo" over whether to invest further in its Mac Pro products since this past May, the Apple watcher reported Monday, citing "sources familiar with the matter."
Apple does have a Mac Pro revision in the works, according to Apple Insider, but it's unclear whether those new workstations will "see the light of day." The company would likely build any new Mac Pros around Intel's powerful new Sandy Bridge-class desktop chips coming out soon, but it's another fertile partnership with Intel—the; development of the high-speed, dual-protocol Thunderbolt I/O technology that's now part of several of Apple's Mac products—that; could "ultimately allow other, more popular members of the Mac product family to assume the vast majority of the roles that once required the Mac Pro's flexibility and architecture."
Click to continue reading Apple thinking of discontinuing the Mac Pro
Will the Apple TV set be driven by apps and Siri?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
As soon as Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs hit the streets, buzz about a possible Apple television set has hit a fever pitched. The idea was renewed based on comments Jobs made that he had finally "cracked" the interface for such a device. Now a new report suggests that we may have already met that interface: Siri.
It's been less than a month since the new digital voice assistant on the iPhone 4S debuted to the public, but Apple may already have plans for it to feature as the controller of a connected TV. Nick Bilton, writing for the Times' Bits blog, says Apple engineers tried one thing after another in their search to simplify or do away with the remote control. After floating ideas like a wireless keyboard or iPhone control, they eventually had their eureka moment: just talk to it.
Although the report cites anonymous sources who say Apple has a television in the works, it's not clear if the information about Siri as a controller comes from them or is Bilton's speculation. It does seem like a logical move for Apple to include Siri in future products, particularly any TVs it may be working on. However, it remains to be seen if consumers fully embrace it as a control mechanism or see it as a barely useful extra. In addition, integrating Siri would require a level of electronics that most TVs don't have, pushing the price up.
Click to continue reading Will the Apple TV set be driven by apps and Siri?
Apple having trouble with iPad 3 Retina Display
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds,
Apple released the iPad 2 last March without upgrading its display, and but a CNet report has said Apple is now facing challenges with bumping the screen of the iPad 3 up to Retina Display standards.
Apple would like its third-generation tablet to have a Retina Display, but CNet’s source said LG and Samsung, makers of Apple tablet panels, are having trouble packing the huge number of pixels necessary into a 10-inch screen.
Retina display, according to Apple’s definition, means the “display’s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.” The iPhone 4S features a Retina Display with a resolution of 960x620. Apple packed 326 pixels per inch (PPI) into the 3.5-inch screen to give graphics a super sharp, seamless look. It’s the most detail a human retina can see at a distance of 12 inches, Apple has said.
CNet noted that it’s not possible to cram that many pixels into the iPad 3. Display manufacturers like Samsung and LG have created displays with a maximum of 2,048x1,536 resolution, for 264 PPI, and at this point, that’s as high as they’ve been able to take the resolution of tablet’s screens. While that’s twice the 132 PPI on the iPad 2, it’s still not quite Retina Display quality.
Click to continue reading Apple having trouble with iPad 3 Retina Display
Apple officially announces October 4 iPhone event
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds,
Apple has confirmed its October 4th iPhone announcement, as they've sent invites out to members of the press inviting us all to join them for the news. Apple's invites are always pretty telling in a vague sort of way. In this one, we see the date and time of the announcement, as well as the location (Apple's Cupertino campus.) The iPhone icon, along with the phrase "Let's talk iPhone." is where the hint is, in our opinion. The big rumored feature of the iPhone 5 is Assistant, which is said to be voice control on steroids. We bet this will be the big feature talked about this time, and you'll certainly be talking to your iPhone a lot more.
We'll have all the news on October 4th as it happens, start to finish!
Apple to announce iPhone 5 on October 4 from main campus
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Rumors,
According to tipsters speaking to AllThingsD's John Paczkowski, Apple's allegedly planning on making its big iPhone 5 announcement at an event on October 4. But contrary to previous announcement events, you won't be seeing Apple executives strutting around the stage at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. According to Paczkowski's sources, Apple's moved the big iPhone announcement to its main campus.
There's no indication as to why the event moved. The reasoning could be as innocuous as the fact that the Yerba Center might already have been booked with another event on October 4. Or, for that matter, Apple might not have exactly known when it was going to be able to produce its iPhone announcement and, thus, hosting the event on its own campus affords the company additional flexibility (and additional time to pick the date).
Click to continue reading Apple to announce iPhone 5 on October 4 from main campus
Al Gore expects more than one iPhone to be released next month
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Rumors,
It appears that Apple board member and former Vice President Al Gore just slipped that multiple iPhones were coming out in October, according to reports.
"Not to mention the new iPhones coming out next month. That was a plug," Gore said at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in South Africa, as picked up by the The Next Web and CNET.
Yes, Gore said "phones," plural. Is Apple planning to release more than one new iPhone? it's certainly possible: All year long, there have been unconfirmed reports that Apple will release an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4 "plus", a cheaper, smaller version of the current iPhone with only minor upgrades. How would a low-end iPhone fit into Apple's strategy? It could be an attempt to ward off Android and gain smartphone market share in other parts of the world.
Click to continue reading Al Gore expects more than one iPhone to be released next month
Apple ready to launch a Sprint iPad?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Rumors,
Sprint could be the next carrier to support the iPad. According to 9to5Mac, Apple and Sprint have finished a version of the tablet that is compatible with Sprint’s network and it will launch in time for the holiday shopping season.
Word on the street is that the Sprint iPad is a completely different model from the CDMA iPad that Verizon carries, even though both carriers’ networks use that standard. It’s unclear whether or not the iPad will run on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network.
As far as the launch timeline goes, Sprint will start selling the iPad soon after it begins carrying the iPhone 5. While the reports that Sprint is getting the iPhone have yet to be confirmed by either Sprint or Apple, this should all happen at the beginning of October. It also speculated Sprint could offer users a much more “generous” data plan, citing the rumors that it would one-up AT&T and offer unlimited data on the iPhone. The site said Sprint could peddle the same plan for the iPad.
Click to continue reading Apple ready to launch a Sprint iPad?
iPhone 5 design revealed by Case-Mate?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Smartphones, Rumors,
This morning, Case-Mate put up a product page for a new iPhone 5 case with images of how the device would look inside of the new accessory. The page was quickly pulled, but not before eagle-eyed tipsters grabbed some screenshots. As you can see in the image above, they show an iPhone that takes design cues from the iPad 2, sporting a thinner, tapered design. Of course, we'd find it hard to believe that Apple showed their secretive hardware to Case-Mate, so they're likely going off of leaked design specs with these renderings. Still, it's an interesting look at what might be coming from Apple in the next few weeks.
The first public photo taken with an iPhone 5?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cameras, Smartphones, Handhelds, Rumors,
The picture of delicious-looking sushi that you see above may have been taken with an iPhone 5. PocketNow is reporting that the EXIF data from the image indicates that it was taken with an iPhone 4, however, prior to cropping, the image weighed in at almost 8 megapixels--much higher than the iPhone 4 limit of 5 megapixels. The iPhone 5 has been long-rumored to sport an 8 megapixel image.
This (very attractive) photo claims to have been taken by an iPhone 4, but the rest of its EXIF data tells a different story: although the image has been cropped to 2235x2291 (5.12 megapixels), the original picture was a much larger 3264x2448 -- or just shy of eight megapixels. What's more, the lens was recorded as a 4.3mm f/2.4, which is closer to that of a point-and-shoot than the iPhone 4's actual 3.85mm f/2.8.
The image has since been removed from Flickr, and it's been confirmed that it awas posted by an Apple iOS software engineer.
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