May 2011
46 posts
5 tags
Alaska Airlines ditches paper flight manuals for...
The iPad has already gotten the go-ahead from the FAA as a replacement for paper flight charts and maps, and now Alaska Airlines has become the first major US airline to hop on board the paperless bandwagon. While it’s not quite ready to ditch paper navigation charts just yet (though that is under consideration), the airline has announced that it will be replacing its traditional flight...
5 tags
New Signal Process introduces BreakOut Stereo and...
If your iPad or iPhone is set to play a starring role at your next, sold-out concert, you may want to check out two new, iOS-friendly interfaces from New Signal Process. Pictured above is NSP’s BreakOut Stomp — a die cast aluminum-encased pedal that promises to transmit guitar signals to and from your iDevice, without any unwanted distortions or detection interference. All you have...
5 tags
Apple's iCloud music service will automatically...
There’s been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you’d think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked.
But it’s still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn’t stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good...
5 tags
Why Apple is trademarking Thunderbolt and why Sony...
Thunderbolt (formerly known as Light Peak) may have been developed by Intel, but it’s Apple that’s been snatching up all the trademark glory. The company first filed in November of 2010 in Jamaica, then followed up in February of this year by securing the rights to the name in Canada, before registering similar claims in Europe, China, and now the US. This raised some interesting...
Explosion at Foxconn's Chengdu plant kills two
An explosion occurred at Foxconn’s Chengdu plant earlier today, with reports claiming several workers have been injured.
The Taiwanese company has yet to release a statement regarding figures and the cause of this tragedy, but according to 21st Century Business Herald, witnesses saw lightning hit the A05 building before the explosion took place — it is believed that this is a case...
Verizon finally killing unlimited data plans this...
Verizon’s been telegraphing its intent to drop unlimited data plans for nearly a year, and despite the fact that LTE smartphones launched with all-you-can-eat options, those plans haven’t changed one bit.Reuters reports that Verizon will finally nix the megabyte buffet this summer, replacing it with a fully tiered data pricing scheme, though CFO Fran Shammo also floated the idea...
Verizon adds 4G LTE to nine more cities, expands...
Verizon Wireless customers will be able to jet on to the LTE network in nine new cities, taking advantage of lightening-fast speeds on their HTC Thunderbolts and 4G mobile hotspots.
The expansion includes Mobile and Montgomery (AL); Greater Fairfield and New Haven (CT); Gainesville, Pensacola, and Tallahassee (FL); Fayetteville-Lumberton (NC); and Bryan-College Station and Temple-Killeen...
Mophie Juice Pack Plus iPhone charging case now...
Until now, Verizon iPhone owners looking for the Mophie battery boost had three options: lugging around a Powerstation plug-in, settling for the Juice Pack Air’s measly 1500mAh battery, or slipping into an ill-fitting Juice Pack Plus AT&T case — an awkward fit, thanks to a slight difference in the handsets’ button placement.
That long national nightmare is finally over,...
Intel admits Apple 'helps shape' its roadmap,...
We knew Intel and Apple had a close working relationship when it came to developing Thunderbolt, but now an exec from Santa Clara has taken the declarations of mutual admiration to the next level.
Tom Kilroy, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group, told a Reuterstech summit that Apple isn’t merely important to his company’s plans, it...
Comcast brings Xfinity TV VOD to iPhone, iPod...
Comcast rolled out a v1.5 update today for the iPhone / iPod Touch versions of its Xfinity TV app which allows them to access the video on-demand streaming that has been available on the iPad since February.
Just like the iPad however, they’ll only work over WiFi — no streaming over 3G or downloading for offline viewing here, although unlike Cablevision and...
Apple gets cozy with EMI, Universal, and Sony over...
Ah, so it’s all coming together now. Following a report on Warner Music inking a cloud streaming deal with Apple, CNET is back with fresh information that sees three more major record companies jumping on board.
Citing “multiple music industry sources,” we’re told that EMI is the latest addition to Apple’s cloud music portfolio, while Universal and Sony are close...
6 tags
Apple's MacBook Air duo to receive Sandy Bridge...
We’ve already seen Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt reinvigorating the MacBook Pro line, so it’s only logical for the MacBook Airs to eventually follow suit — presumably they’ll pick up Sandy Bridge’s 17W mobile processors to match the current 10W and 17W Core 2 Duos. So when can we expect this to happen? Well, according...
4 tags
iDVM Digital Multimeter collects voltage readings...
This, dear reader, is the iDVM Digital Multimeter — the world’s very first iDevice-enabled voltmeter, from Redfish Instruments. Designed with auto technicians, electricians and engineers in mind, the iDVM uses an ad hoc wireless network to connect to any iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, allowing users to record voltage, resistance and current directly from their...
5 tags
Apple proposing smaller SIM standard?
It looks like the Micro SIM (announced with Apple’s first iPad last year) is destined to shed a few more grams, an Orange spokeswoman said — contradicting an earlier rumor claiming that Apple is trying to kill off the chip altogether.
SIM cards in their current form have been in use for over a decade (a Micro SIM is simply a standard chip without the extra plastic), and...
4 tags
Slacker intros Premium Radio subscription service,...
Internet radio provider Slacker is bulldozing the thin line dividing itself from subscription-based music services today, with the launch of Premium Radio.
The new pricing tier joins the existing gratis Basic Radio and ad-free Radio Plus plans, adding an all-you-can-eat music model akin to services like Rhapsody and Radio. Subscribers who shell out $9.99 a month receive all of the features of...
5 tags
Nuance voices found in OS X Lion, patent...
Apple’s certainly no stranger to speech recognition, but it looks like it may have enlisted a bit of outside help for the next version of OS X, otherwise known as Lion.
As Netputing reports, some of the text-to-speech voice options available in the developer preview of Lion just so happen to match the voices available from Nuance — which would seem to suggest a partnership or...
7 tags
Apple offers free repairs for iPhones, other...
Apple customers with Macs, displays, and iOS devices that were directly damaged in the Japan earthquake and tsunami may be eligible for free repairs.
The offer, posted on the company’s Japanese website, excludes iPod classic, nano, and shuffle, and only applies to customers living in areas covered by the Ministry of Health’s Disaster Relief Act. Originally posted in March,...
4 tags
Planex capacitive stylus mocks Steve Jobs, all the...
In the past, our coverage of Planex has largely been relegated to storage devices and wireless access points, but now the company has entered one of the most exciting businesses of all: breaking poor Steve Jobs’s heart.
That’s right, the company has meddled with the natural order of the universe by releasing new smartphone styli. They come in two colors — black and white,...
5 tags
YouTube will add 3,000 streaming movies for...
In the midst of a blog post welcoming us to “the future of video” head of YouTube Salar Kamangar confirms that starting today it will add around 3,000 new movie titles for rental in the US, along with reviews and behind the scenes extras.
More details are promised to come in another post later today, but right now the video page appears to have the same list of flicks we’ve...
7 tags
Conde Nast brings The New Yorker to iPad, seven...
Yet another print powerhouse is bringing its wares to the iPad, all lining up neatly ahead of Apple’s upcoming WWDC.
First it was Time, then it was Hearst, and now Condè Nast is joining the fun with very similar terms to the other two. Starting this week with The New Yorker, digital versions will be available for free to current print edition...
5 tags
WiMAX sleeve brings 4G speeds to the iPhone 4 in...
This is exactly how we humans got out of the trees five million years ago. We spot a problem, like the iPhone 4’s lack of 4G data, and we solve it.
In fact, Korean Telecom’s new Egg sleeve not only brings WiMAX to the iPhone 4 but also incorporates an extra battery to allow five hours of 4G surfing. It could make bipedalism slightly uncomfortable however, by bulking your pocket...
4 tags
DoubleTwist upgrade features AirPlay support for...
Add another notch to DoubleTwist’s Apple ecosystem integration belt, now that its Android app has added AirPlay streaming to the list of features.
As of version 1.4 it will stream music, videos or pictures to the Apple TV or other compatible devices while also claiming beta support for Sonos hardware. The DoubleTwist player is free, but using AirPlay means purchasing the...
5 tags
Eton's Soulra XL solar-powered iPod boombox will...
Summer’s nearly here, the sun shining bright — wouldn’t you like to share your tunes with friends while basking in the light? That’s what Eton’s counting on as it prepares to ship the Soulra XL, the solar-powered iPod boombox formerly known as the Soulra 2.
As we discovered at CES in January, its set of eight speakers get pretty loud, and Eton claims it charges...
6 tags
Amazon Cloud Player streams tunes to iOS,...
Amazon Cloud Player has been laying low following its scuffle with Sony Music, but that hasn’t kept the company’s developers from rolling a crucial new feature out — support for Apple’s iOS devices, which it didn’t have on day one.
Despite running in the Safari browser window, we’ve confirmed that songs will indeed play. If you’ve got a device handy,...
7 tags
iPad 2 light leakage due to faulty LG panels?
We don’t have official word from Apple on the subject, but we’re hearing rumors that might explain why some iPad 2 backlights tend to bleed — according to Digitimes’ anonymous sources, LG Display was “forced to reduce its shipments in the first quarter due to light leakage problem for panels,” and that Samsung took up the slack. That suggests that some of...
9 tags
redsn0w untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.1 works...
Apple released iOS 4.3.3 on Wednesday, but as it did with 4.3.2, neglected to patch the untethered jailbreak exploit in redsn0w 0.9.6rc9 (since updated to rc15).
Looks like that’s a hat trick for the iPhone Dev Team. The hack works with most devices (even the Apple TV), but there’s still no solution for iPad 2 owners — we’re sure that the underground powers that be are...
7 tags
5 tags
Facebook, Google rumored to be vying for Skype...
Like two knights jostling for the hand of a fair maiden, both Facebook and Google appear to be courting the graces of Skype.
A source close to Facebook recently told Reuters that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is thinking about buying Skype outright, as part of a deal that could be worth $3 to $4 billion. A second source, meanwhile, claimed that both Facebook and Google are more interested...
7 tags
Apple updates 2011 MacBook Pro firmware to v1.4,...
In spite of the “Pro” in its name, Apple’s 2011 MBP got off to a bit of a bumpy start for many users.
Some encountered problems when outputting video through the Thunderbolt port to their Cinema Displays, while others found the new MacBook Pro freezing up when processing loads got that little bit too intense. The good news is that Apple now has a software update geared to...
10 tags
The Daily generated 800,000 downloads, $10 million...
It’s still too early to pass judgment on News Corp’s daring venture into tablet-only newspapers, The Daily, but at least we now have an idea of how much it costs to get a project like this off the ground.
Having spent $30 million developing the concept before launch, the company’s latest quarterly reports indicate another $10 million loss was incurred on the early operations...
8 tags
iOS 5 updates expected to be carried over-the-air,...
Having spent a good part of our day yesterday negotiating with iTunes and downloading a whopping 666.2MB file to update our iPhone to version 4.3.3 — a version, we might add, whose sole claim to fame is the removal of things — we know well the pains of updating Apple’s mobile software.
Those aches, however, may soon be coming to an end. 9to5Mac has multiple sources informing...
6 tags
Chrome Canary comes to Macs for fearless browser...
Until now, Mac users who like to live their digital lives on the edge have had to make do with Chrome’s dev channel while their Windows counterparts were flying by the seat of their pants with the Canary build. Well, be jealous so more OS X fans — you can now run your own untested, pre-developer build of Google’s web browser. The Canary...
7 tags
Hearst Corp. signs on to sell its magazines...
Esquire, Popular Mechanics, and O are not just for your local bookstore’s magazine rack any more — assuming you still have a local bookstore and that it is still large enough to own a rack.
Hearst Corporation, the force behind those printed ‘zines, has become the first major publisher to terms with Apple, so those very publications will soon be on iTunes....
6 tags
6 tags
iOS 4.3.3 is out, location tracking 'fix' in tow
Apple’s promised update to iOS to rectify what it perceived as a set of bugs in the system — namely, an excessively large cache of location information that was backed up to iTunes and hung around even after you switched Location Services off — is now being distributed to iPhones, iPads and iPod touches out in the wild. To exterminate those problematic aspects of your OS, you...
6 tags
Apple's 2011 iMac undergoes teardown, shows off...
Yesterday, you saw the new 21.5-inch iMac fully specced out and up for sale on Apple’s online store, and you were even treated to the sight of its 27-inch sibling pushing three displays and 11 megapixels of resolution. Today, you get to witness Apple’s latest all-in-one computer fully disassembled. iFixit is doing the honors, as usual, and the investigation starts with the detachment...
7 tags
Adobe Photoshop update ushers in new era of iPad...
We’ve been quite enamored with Adobe’s demos of iPad / Photoshop interactivity for some time, and now it looks as if we’ll finally be able to take the whole thing for a spin. As promised, the company today released Creative Suite 5.5, which offers, among other things, the ability to use tablets and smartphones to interact with the company’s flagship image editing...
10 tags
WatchOne Thunderbolt port on your new MacBook Pro? Pah. The new 27-inch iMac has twice that many — two. When we got ours out of the box we just had to do the natural thing: fire up as many pixels as possible. Two 30-inch Dell displays and a couple of dual-link DVI display adapters later and we have what you see above: a wide swath of LCD covering covering 11,878,400 pixels. Sure, any average...
13 tags
Apple iMac refresh official: Thunderbolt and next...
The last time Apple updated its iMac line we were treated to Intel Core 2010 processors. So it’s no surprise — really, no surprise at all — to see Apple refreshing the lineup today.
Prices start at $1,199 (as usual) for the 21.5-inch (1,920 x 1,080 pixel IPS panel) model with new 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and 512MB of AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics. Prices soon...
6 tags
Electronic House crowns iOS-equipped dwelling 2011...
Electronic House just announced its pick for 2011 Home of the Year, and from the look of things, this iOS-enabled abode has the stuff to put your robotic butler out of work.
The mammoth craftsman’s interiors, designed by OCD poster boy Jeff Lewis, were automated by HD Media Systems using the Savant app. Everything from lighting to shower temperature are controlled using wall-mounted...
7 tags
Apple store goes down, iMac refresh on high alert
Details are spotty but Apple special forces have apparently swept into its data center, temporarily disrupting the company’s ability to sell anything online.
We’re expecting official word of the operation from company CEO Steve Jobs, at about 08.30 Eastern Time. With any luck, a new iMac will emerge unscathed by the Nehalem menace, sporting a brand new Sandy Bridge...
8 tags
iOS 4.3.3 rumored to be coming within next two...
Apple promised last week that it would address the iPhone tracking issue in a software update in the “next few weeks,” and BGR is now reporting that the update is coming within the next two weeks, or “possibly sooner.”
What’s more, the site says that it’s actually been sent an early version of the iOS update, and that it does indeed no longer back up the...
10 tags
Sn0wbreeze brings untethered jailbreak to Verizon...
Verizon iPhone owners, your untethered jailbreaking prayers have been answered.
Hacker iH8Sn0w updated the Sn0wbreeze tool, adding support for Big Red handsets running iOS 4.2.7 and finally allowing those who have forsaken AT&T to bring the magic of Cydia to their phones without the cumbersome need for tethering. The usual caveats apply: you’ll have to get your hands on a copy of...
9 tags
Time Inc., Apple to offer free iPad downloads to...
After months of speculation, Time Inc. has finally inked a deal with Apple that will allow print magazine subscribers to access the company’s iPad editions for free.
Beginning this week, subscribers to print versions of Sports Illustrated,Fortune, and Time will be able to download the iPad counterparts at no cost, directly within the magazines’ apps. Today’s deal comes just a...
7 tags
4 tags
Honeycomb or the highway
During the holiday season of 2009 when netbooks were the hot commodity, Apple lost share in the PC market. It had nothing to compete with the sunken prices and shrunken sizes of those miniature laptops. PC vendors such as ASUS and Acer, on the other hand, did well in the netbook segment, as they could call on their expertise in building inexpensive Windows notebooks. After the iPad’s...
