Leander Kahney - page 28

UPDATE: I sent an email to App Remix’s CEO Jonathan George asking whether his company was going to be bought by Apple. His response? “No comment…” he said.

Apple is working on a new notification system for iOS and will be buying a small company to build its technology into the operating system, according to one of our sources.

Apple’s pop-up notification system for new text messages, voicemails and the like has often been criticized as one of the weakest parts of the iOS. Notifications are intrusive, modal and often cryptic. It’s a mess.

HP/Palm’s webOS banner notification system, on the other hand, has been widely praised for its utility and ease of use. And from this week’s preview, it looks to be getting better.

There were rumors last year that the iPhone’s notification system would be fixed after the chief architect of Palm’s system, Rich Dellinger, returned to work at Apple. However, the system still hasn’t been fixed, and according to our source, Apple is now trying to buy a small app developer to fix it.

Our source, who asked to remain anonymous, didn’t know the identity of the company, except it already has an iPhone app in the App Store.

One candidate is Boxcar, a free app from App Remix that enables push notifications for Twitter, Facebook, and email. Boxcar’s system has been highly praised, especially the new iPad version.

Other than that, we couldn’t find other obvious possibilities for the company Apple is buying. If anyone has a good idea, please leave it in the comments.

As Apple’s stock takes a pounding on rumors that Steve Jobs is in hospital, the Wall Street Journal says he’s up and about and still on the job.

According to the Journal, Jobs is still on the job, taking meetings about the IPad 2 and iPhone 5:

The 55-year-old Mr. Jobs, whose ailment hasn’t been disclosed, has been taking business meetings at home and on the phone, these people said.

He also has been seen on Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., campus and in public in Palo Alto, Calif., with a company executive, said people familiar with the matter.

Earlier today, Apple’s stock dropped -3.62 to $354.54 on rumors Jobs is in hospital.

There’s the possibility that the WSJ story is a plant from Apple’s PR department to counter the Wall St. rumors. Apple’s stock started plunging at around 3PM EST: the Journal’s story, which is based on unnamed sources, appeared about three hours later, at 6PM. The timing may also be a coincidence, of course.

WSJ: Despite Leave, Jobs Keeps a Hand on Apple

We like the sound of this one: Apple is rumored to be working on a smaller, cheaper iPhone — the iPhone nano. Best of all, the $200 iPhone will be contract free and may be dual-mode.

According to Bloomberg, the new handset will be about one-third smaller and be based on older, cheaper components to keep the price down. Apple already has a prototype (more likely, prototypes) and plans to introduce the new iPhone mid year.

The new iPhone may also be dual-mode. Bloomberg says Apple is also working on a dual-mode GSM and CDMA handset that would work on almost all networks — this may or may not the iPhone 5, and may or may not be in the new, smaller iPhone. Would make sense if it was though.

The cheaper handset is to counter the relentless march of Android phones, which are beating iPhone market share (but not iOS market share).

Bloomberg has great sources and has a good track record with Apple rumors. If true, it’s huge. It would upend carrier subsidies and the whole wireless business, givung control back to consumers and device makers.

The rumor tallies nicely with our prediction earlier this year that 2011 would be the year Apple introduces new iPhone models, just as it diversified the iPod line with nanos, shuffles, and classics as the technology matured.

As we noted in our prediction piece, Apple is currently competing only at the high-end, and has nothing to counter Android at entry-level prices. We predicted Apple will introduce a cheaper iPhone this year to widen the “price umbrella.” We called the cheaper iPhone, the “iPhone play.”

Of course, the iPhone nano rumors are as old as the hills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75gG8Kcn0io

The iPad is taking off faster than anything Apple has shipped before, including the iPod and iPhone, both a pair of monster hits.

Look at this amazing chart from Mary Meeker, a former Wall St. analyst who is now with the VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. It shows the initial shipments of the iPad compared to the iPhone and iPod.

When the iPod was introduced in 2001, Apple shipped 236,000 units in the first three quarters. In 2007, the iPhone shipped 3.7 million units in its first three quarters. But the iPad blows both away: 14.8 million units shipped.

Steve Jobs has said the iPad was like “catching a tiger by the tail.” No kidding.

And here’s how the iTunes App Store is selling vastly more apps than it sold music or movies:

Here’s a great tour of Steve Jobs’ other company, Pixar, courtesy of the New York Times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnjwG7Z8AM8

Here’s video of yesterday’s webOS presser so you can see for yourself HP’s TouchPad in action — scrub to 22.30.

The Wall Street Journal says the iPad 2 is now in production, according to “people familiar with the matter.”

According to the Journal, the iPad 2 will be:

• Thinner
• Lighter
• Faster processor
• More memory
• Better graphics processor
• Front-facing camera
• No Retina display: screen will be same resolution as original iPad
• Dual-mode wireless: will be available through both Verizon and AT&T
• No Sprint or T-Mobile

WSJ: Apple’s New iPad In Production

Despite having a brand new antenna, the Verizon iPhone 4 also has antenna issues when held in a “Death Hug,” iLounge has discovered.

The “Death Hug” is when the phone is cupped by both hands and held in landscape orientation — not exactly normal. Still, iLounge found it slows both cellular and WiFi reception when loading web pages. But as Steve Jobs pointed out in response to the original Antennagate controversy, holding any smartphone in your hands degrades the signal to some extent.

This doesn’t look like Antennagate redux. We can’t see the VZW Death Hug turning into another PR headache for Apple.

After consistently undervaluing Apple, Wall St. analysts are now saying the company should be the most valuable company on Earth.

At least five firms Wall St. have upped their 12-month forecasts to an average of $467, putting Apple’s market cap at $433.7 billion, way past Exxon Mobil’s $423.2 billion.

Apple’s stock hit a new all-time high today of $355.12, valuing it at $326.6 billion. The biggest bull on Apple’s stock, Ticonderoga Securities, says it’s going to $550 thanks to future sales in China.

CNBC: Apple Is Most Valuable Company on Earth: Analysts

Our friends at 9to5Mac have torn down the Verizon iPhone and found a tasty surprise: it’s based on a GSM world phone-compatible chip!

The VZW iPhone is based on the Qualcomm MDM6600 chip, which is dual-mode GSM and CDMA compatible. That means the iPhone 5 will also surely be dual-mode, allowing Apple to ship one handset for both Verizon and AT&T, aw well as every other carrier outside the U.S.

9to5Mac: Verizon iPhone tear-down posted, reveals Qualcomm Gobi chip! (GSM Worldphone compatible!)

Motorola’s Super Bowl ad for its Xoom tablet — one of the first serious iPad contenders — is replete with Apple references: 1984, Lemmings, white earbuds. But where Apple’s TV ads for the iPad are practical and concrete, Motorola’s is cryptic and confused.

Reminds me of Palm’s weird, ethereal ads for the Pre, which bombed. It’s not good sign.

Plus, the device will reportedly cost $800 with a $20 per month data plan. There’s no WiFi-only model. From our hands-on at CES, the hardware looks OK, but we couldn’t test the software: Moto was showing an unfinished unit..

Apple’s upcoming iOS 4.3 update will have wireless syncing, Photobooth, and a Sports Training program.

It may also get QuickLook from OS X — the ability to quickly peek at a file or email attachment without launching any programs.

The new capabilities were discovered by programmer Chris Galzerano, who has been digging around in the iOS 4.3 SDK and firmware beta.

Here are the details:

UPDATE: Mark Gurman from 9to5Mac is skeptical about this information. PhotoBooth is right, he says, but has been known for weeks. QuickLook is for opening attachments in email; the Sports Trainer frameworks have been in iOS forever, and likely refer to Nike+; and the Wireless Syncing frameworks are likely part of regular MobileMe syncing.

If you’re like me, you probably can’t watch TV without a computer in your lap. And if you’re be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, there’s a pretty cool iPad app that will enhance the game — and the commercials.

The free Vualla Social TV Companion is a one-stop shop for all the online goodies surrounding the game.

Wanna talk smack on Twitter? It includes a Twitter client, as well as FaceBook and chat. There are news feeds from ESPN and other sources, Twitter updates from the locker room, Flickr photos from fans at the game, and instant replays (both plays and commercials) – plus a bunch more.

The idea is to have an easy way to do all the things we now do while watching TV (Twittering, checking the news). The company plans to roll out more apps for upcoming sports events as well as popular shows like American Idol and Glee. I think it looks pretty cool. Here’s a quick video tour I just got from Kevin Brown of Stage Two:

iLounge says it’s heard some juicy rumors about the iPad 2:

1. The iPad 2 is getting NFC (Near Field Communications), which will allow all kinds of cool wireless features. We’ve reported on a number of possible applications, including eWallets. iLounge’s source says Apple is working on several NFC-enabled accessories.

2. The iPad 2 may get a carbon fiber case instead of an aluminum. Or not. iLounge says carbon prototypes have been spotted but not be final production models.

3. Apple hasn’t yet abandoned the 7-inch iPad, even though Steve Jobs has said the form factor is “dead on arrival and swore Apple would never produce one.” According to iLounge, Apple has ordered components for a 7-inch device, but it could be for just prototypes.

As Verizon’s systems get crushed with customers eager to buy an iPhone 4, Apple has hinted that the iPhone 5 will be coming to the carrier in July.

Everyone knows that Apple will be refreshing the iPhone hardware this summer. But the big question about today’s Verizon launch is whether that carrier will get new hardware in less than six months. It seems likely. Apple is strongly rumored to be working on a dual-mode handset that works on both GSM and CDMA networks. But where does that leave VZW’s early adopters? How are they going to feel about buying a device made obsolete in a few months?

The New York Times columnist David Pogue asked Apple these questions. Here’s what Apple said:

Apple won’t say if there will be an iPhone 5 for Verizon this summer. (“Let’s put it this way: We’re not stupid,” is all an Apple rep would say.) But if it does, and you buy an iPhone 4 now, you’ll be stuck with an outdated phone in only five months.

To me, this reads like a tacit admission that the iPhone 5 will launch on Verizon and AT&T simultaneously this summer. Obviously Apple won’t pre-announce the iPhone 5 on VZW because no one that network will buy the iPhone 4 today.

As Apple says, “We’re not stupid.”

It looks like Nvidia’s fastest graphics cards could be headed for the Mac — courtesy of an unofficial hack.

The Russian hacker known as Netkas has hinted that he’s cracked Nvidia’s Fermi ROM, the firmware underlying its most powerful cards, which are currently Windows-only.

In a post titled “On the mac’s fermi ROM,” Netkas posted a winking smiley face — a hint that he’s cracked the drivers for Nvdia’s most powerful line of graphics cards.

Netkas is a highly regarded hacker, most famous for his Hackintosh EFI Bootloader hack, which allows generic PC hardware to run Mac OS X.

Given the hacker’s reputation, it is “certain that he has found a way,” says HardMac, which follows graphics hacks closely. Hardmac reckons Netkas was able to adapt the ROM of Nvidia’s Quadro FX 4000, which has Mac drivers.

HardMac is hoping to see Mac ROM for Nvidia’s GTX 580, the most powerful Fermi card available.

There’s a thriving hacking underground that unofficially adapts Mac drivers for Windows PC cards, which are usually much cheaper than their Mac counterparts.

The early Verizon iPhone reviews are in, and it’s basically the same story across reviewers: calls are better, but data downloads not so.

The VZW iPhone is a great phone, Wired.com reports, but data isn’t as speedy as AT&T’s.

WIRED It’s a better phone, period. More likely to pull a signal, even indoors — this could change the way we converse at bars. Hot-spotting is well-integrated and very easy to use. Has a whiter, slightly better-looking display.

TIRED Slow data transfers compared to the AT&T iPhone. Sluggish app installs take away from the App Store’s instant gratification. Video streams are compressed more heavily, so Netflix and YouTube are uglier. No simultaneous voice and data transmissions thanks to the limitations of CDMA.

Meanwhile, David Pogue at the NYT says: “…the Verizon iPhone is nearly the same as AT&T’s iPhone 4 — but it doesn’t drop calls.”

And Pogue brings up a good point about the VZW network buckling under the rush on new iPhones:

Consider, too, that if surveys are any indication, Verizon can expect an enormous stampede of new iPhone customers. Last time this happened — to AT&T — the weight of all those bandwidth-sucking iPhones swamped the network, causing interruptions that persist to this day. The same thing might happen to Verizon.

Verizon swears that it’s prepared for the onslaught. Then again, that’s what AT&T said, too.

The Verizon iPhone goes on pre-sale at 3am tomorrow. First deliveries are expected on Feb. 10.

Engadget did some speed tests and found AT&T’s network was significantly faster. Here’s the results:

I think performer/journalist Mike Daisey has very important things to things to say about Apple, the electronics industry, and modern industrial production.

Go see his hilarious but upsetting one-man show at Berkeley Rep, or watch this great TechCrunch interview:

The 150-year-old catalog giant Hammacher Schlemmer has released a classy iPhone stand that turns your device into a desktop handset.

Hammacher’s iPhone Desktop Handset looks good for cradling under your chin, and definitely does away with iPhone 4 proximity sensor issues.

Seems like old-school handsets are making a comeback. The handset is reminiscent of the iFusion Smartstation office phone/dock that premiered at Macworld last week. But the Hammacher handset plugs into the headphone jack instead of working via Bluetooth.

The Hammacher handset is $60, which seems a bit steep, but is cheaper than the $200 rotary-style iRetrofone Base.

Via Laughing Squid and Ubergizmo.

Confirming our exclusive report back in October, Woz says the white iPhone 4 weas delayed because of light leakage into the camera, ruining photos.

But not to worry, the white iPhone 4 is coming soon Woz told the Engadget Show last night.

Rumors suggest Apple has fixed the light leakage issue with new paint, and the white iPhone 4 has recently been showing up in inventory systems at AT&T and Best Buy.

Via VentureBeat.

Proving that fact is always more interesting than fiction, ad man Steve Hayden remembers the making of Apple’s 1984 ad in AdWeek this week.

Marking the 27th anniversary, Hayden describes the utterly chaotic process behind the making of what’s been called “the best TV commercial ever.” Everyone hated it, and no one wanted it to run except Steve Wozniak, who offered to pay half the costs himself.

The first version of the spot was more Jetsons than Metropolis. The intention was to remove people’s fears of technology at a time when owning your own computer made about as much sense as owning your own cruise missile. We wanted to democratize technology, telling people that the power was now literally in their hands.

AdWeek: ‘1984’: As Good as It Gets

Back in 1984, Apple introduced the Mac with its famous 1984 Superbowl ad. Now Motorola is invoking some of the same ideas to promote its Xoom tablet, but this time, Apple is Big Brother.

Motorola’s new Superbowl Ad , “Goodbye 1984,” says that 2011 looks a lot like 1984:

One authority. One design. One way to work.

It’s time for more choices. It’s time to explore. It’s time to live a free life.

Learn more about Motorola XOOM: https://moto.ly/xoom

The ad is pretty bare-bones, and it’s not clear whether it will run during the Superbowl or is just a teaser or a trial balloon.

Funny how often Apple is compared to Big Brother these days. Over the weekend, The New York Times invoked Microsoft in its heyday with its market-crushing “platform” — a position Apple finds itself in now, says the Times.

Here’s Motorola’s ad below, and Apple’s original 1984, just for comparison purposes.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — They call themselves the “Kickstarter Kids.”

They’re the group of entrepreneurs backed by Kickstarter, the group funding website — and there were a bunch of them at Macworld.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Here’s a surprising statistic from Macworld 2011: about 40% of show goers don’t have a smartphone.

That was the number given to me at a meetup on the show’s last night. It was from someone who ran a competition all week in one of the booths. To win a prize, entrants had to download an app to their smartphone — and about 40% didn’t have a device that could download apps.

SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD 2011 — Down on the show floor, I ran into podcaster Tim Chaten, who was using an iPod touch to record video.

Chaten had his iPod touch mounted in a home-made camera rig, complete with an external microphone.

It looks like a pretty good setup for shooting quick and easy videos.

Here’s how he put it together: