News - page 1756

See that big building right there? It’s part of Apple’s huge new data center over in North Carolina that powers all the iCloud magic that makes your iOS experience possible. Apple’s data center compound is massive. It comes with a 500,000 square foot data center, a 100-acre solar farm, a 4.8-megawatt fuel cell array, and a few other little buildings sprinkled all over.

The little 21,000 square foot building in the picture above is what Apple’s calling a “tactical data center.” No one knows just what it’s supposed to be, and of course Apple’s not going to tell anyone. So Wired jumped in their spy plane to get a closer look, and this is what they found out:

It’s hard to overstate my love of the Paparazzo light, despite the fact that I have never touched or even seen one outside of the photos on its Kickstarter page. Maybe it's the idea I like so much: it's an old-style flashgun which pumps out a ridiculous 300 lumens of subject-petrifying light whilst making you look like and old-school newspaperman.

While some may consider the iPad’s Smart Cover to be too expensive and flimsy, Apple is obviously investing time and effort into the accessory. A recent patent has been uncovered that details an enhanced Smart Cover with a secondary touch display. Like Microsoft’s Surface tablet, the unreleased accessory would also have a keyboard embedded in the cover with virtual keys for typing.

By drawing power from the tablet inside, this patented Smart Cover design could extend the iPad’s screen with extra room for drawing, notifications, and icons around the device’s bezel. The patent also highlights using embedded solar cells and RF antennas to power the secondary display and keyboard. Sounds futuristic.

In celebration of the Kennedy Space Center’s 50th birthday, Google Maps has teamed up with NASA to give curious children, enthusiasts, and space lovers alike, a virtual trip down the launch pad of space exploration. Compiled of 6,000 panoramic views of the facilities, the Street View of the Kennedy Space Center is the largest special collection of Street View imagery to date.

The idea that you need a fancy camera and a bag of lenses to take good photos is utter crap. It’s a myth beloved of camera makers, and lapped up by amateur snappers who think that a Leica M9 or a Nikon D700 will somehow improve their tawdry, insipid holiday snaps.

Don’t agree? Here’s exhibit A: Photographer Dan Chung is covering the Olympics for the Guardian with an iPhone 4S, a pair of binoculars (used as a telephoto lens) and the iOS app Snapseed, and his photos are – too put it plainly – better than yours and mine.

One of the very few App Store games to reach Angry Birds-level popularity is Temple Run. Developed by the small team at Imangi Studios, the game has seen incredible success in Apple’s App Store and now on Android as well. In celebration of Temple Run’s one year anniversary, Imangi has announced that the game has been downloaded 100 million times across iOS and Android devices. That’s quite an incredible feat.

A Temple Run update has been released today that brings full support for the third-gen iPad’s Retina display alongside a new power-up. All of Imangi’s other paid games have also been made free in the App Store for a limited time too.

The member companies that make up the Enterprise Device Alliance announced earlier this week that all of their products have either been updated already with support for Mountain Lion or will be within a few weeks.

The Enterprise Device alliance is a consortium of companies focused on integration Apple technologies in the business and enterprise environments. The solutions offered by those member companies include Active Directory integration, Mac and iOS device management, advanced file and print integration options, mobile backup, Windows virtualization, and help desk operations.

Amazon released its Instant Video iPad app yesterday. The app allows Amazon Prime members to stream and download movies and TV shows on the iPad over a WiFi connection.

If your iPad is jailbroken, you won’t be able to watch anything in the Amazon Instant Video app. This isn’t the first time a content provider has blocked access to jailbreakers, but it’s certainly still disappointing.

This is the Franc, a clever, minimal iPhone wallet which the maker Chris Anderson (no, not that Chris Anderson) inexplicably pronounces as “fronk,” in some crazy attempt at a French accent I guess.

Despite this oral boo-boo, the Fronk itself appears to be a rather desirable Kickstarter project.

More juicy tidbits keep surfacing in the Apple vs. Samsung patent trial. We’ve already seen dozens and dozens of early iPhone and iPad prototypes, and we all learned that Apple literally designs products around a kitchen table. A new finding reveals that Apple had “strong interest” in curved glass for the original iPhone, but the idea was shelved because it would have costed too much to make at the time.

Apple may be the only major company operating the mobile space that hasn’t announced a partnership or trial related to delivering mobile payments and creating an iWallet. While it seems a forgone conclusion that Apple will eventually enter the mobile payment market, a recent statement by James Le Brocq, managing director at O2 Money (a division of the U.K. mobile carrier O2) illustrates why Apple hasn’t yet entered the that market and why that’s a good move for Apple: consumers aren’t that interested in mobile payments.

Despite being noisy, big, heavy and hard to type on, clackety keyboards like the DAS are hot fashion right now, despite their impracticality (isn’t that always the way with fashion?). I kid. I actually use a DAS keyboard with my iMac, although to be honest I almost never use the iMac these days.

The only thing that really drives me crazy about the DAs, though, is the lack of media keys. F15 and F16, or whatever the last keys are in the top row, control screen brightness out of the box, but volume, media keys and other OS X essentials are lacking, leaving rather kludgy third-party fixes as the only way to add them back.

Now, the Model S Professional and Professional Silent models sport proper media keys. Three word: At frickin’ last.

Apple had some issues with initial shipments of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, but things are starting to look better. U.S. shipping estimates for the new laptop are now at a more reasonable 5-7 business days. Apple’s website previously said that it would take 1-2 weeks for new orders to ship, with orders taking nearly a month to ship back in mid-July.

If you’re interested in a Retina MacBook Pro, make sure to check out the new build-to-order options Apple added yesterday.

Source: Apple Online Store

It’s been all but confirmed that Apple is holding its fall iPhone event on Wednesday, September 12th. The rumored 8-inch iPad mini is also expected to be announced next month, although it’s been unclear if Apple will ship the device at the same time as the new iPhone.

According to a new report this morning, Sharp will begin shipping larger 4-inch iPhone displays throughout Apple’s supply chain this month as production for the September launch ramps up. Production of the iPad mini’s smaller display is also expected to begin in August leading up to Apple’s event in September.

Rovio has updated the original and still the best of the Angry Birds games with 15 new levels, and four new power-ups. It seems like everyone who wants this game has already bought it, so in order to keep milking the franchise for money on these free updates, Rovio has decided to go down the dirty path of in-app purchases.

No doubt some of you will spring for these simply after hearing the name; but Fanny Wang is hoping their new bud-style Wang Buds earphones will conquer a territory they feel noone really owns yet: The earphone middle ground between the comfort, safety and simplicity of the iconic Apple buds, and the sound reproduction generally achieved by in-ear monitors — think really, really good Apple buds.

Steve Wozniak, one of the two famous Steves who created Apple Computer back in the early days of Silicon Valley, went to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco this evening, unaware that a party was brewing there in his honor.

The surprise birthday party was thrown by Fusion-io, the company that employs Wozniak as chief scientist. Secretly invited guests arrived to find pink boas, noise makers, and a chance to play Tetris, according to AllThingsD, who took some photos at the event.

In the latest filing in the Apple vs Samsung patent case, the Korean-based electronics company argued that the documents they leaked after US District Judge Lucy Koh excluded as trial evidence were public domain, anyway, and that Samsung had done nothing wrong or unethical.

The Nevada Board of Economic Development endorsed a plan today, originally negotiated by the city council of Reno, to offer Apple $89 million in tax breaks in return for building a data center in the state.

A report this morning claimed that AT&T employees were being instructed to push Windows Phone and Android smartphones over iPhones to customers. Not only that, but the report claimed that employees are being forbidden from buying an iPhone as a company-owned device. AT&T later released an official statement in a poor attempt to clear the air, saying “The idea that we would steer any customer away from a particular device couldn’t be more farfetched.”

Several readers have since shared their experiences of AT&T reps pushing Android phones over the iPhone, with one even noting that a buddy who works at AT&T gets more commission on Android smartphone sales.

According to a new testimony, it appears that Verizon may be also instructing/incentivising its reps to push other smartphones over Apple’s iPhone.

Back in June, we reported on a study that showed that the average iPad user is extremely likely to make a purchase or research a product after seeing an ad on his or her device. A more recent study supports that research and notes that for one-third of iPad/tablet owners, shopping is their favorite tablet-based activity.

The New York Times recently said that Apple was considering a multi-million dollar investment in Twitter. The report was then refuted by other publications, including The Wall Street Journal. According to the WSJ, Apple’s investment talks with Twitter were more than a year old. It seemed odd that Apple, a company known for rarely buying (much less investing in) other companies, would pump so much money in a financially-healthy startup like Twitter.

In a new report today, The Wall Street Journal sheds more light on Apple’s relationship with Twitter, highlighting that the two companies have been focusing on how to tie Twitter into Apple’s OS X and iOS platforms. Interestingly, Apple is currently working to add deeper iTunes integration with Twitter.

If you live in Massachusetts and are in the market for a new Mac then you’re in luck. Massachusetts will once again be holding a tax holiday on the weekend of August 11-12. This might be a great opportunity to save some money on Apple products. Here’s what you need to know.

During our Mobile Management Month series, we noted that a number mobile management vendors have established strategic partnerships with consulting firms, telecom agents, and mobile carriers. According to a study, these kinds or partnerships are paying off for everyone involved – carriers, vendors, and business customers.

It’s August, which means two things. One, there’s no news to report on, which means that most of a gadget blogger’s workday is taken up with siestas and refreshing beverages. And two, it’s vacation time! That’s right: The whole northern hemisphere likes to take a break at exactly the same time, all the better to enjoy congested roads, overpriced plane tickets and overcrowded hotels.

To ease your pain, we’ve put together a list of the best travel gadgets. You may not enjoy spending a hot and stuffy month with your in-laws, but at least your tech won’t let you down.