News - page 2083

This is a guest post by Paul Lamere, an executive at The Echo Nest, a music intelligence company located in Somerville, Mass. It was originally published here.

For the last year we’ve heard rumors of how both Apple and Google were getting close to releasing music locker services that allow music listeners to upload their music collection to the cloud giving them the ability to listen to their music everywhere.

So it was a big surprise when the first major Internet player to launch a music locker service wasn’t Google or Apple, but instead was Amazon.  Last week, with little fanfare, Amazon released its Amazon Cloud Drive, a cloud-based music locker that includes the Amazon Cloud Player allowing people to listen to their music anywhere.

Amazon’s entry into the music locker is a big deal and should be particularly worrisome for Google and Apple.  Amazon brings some special sauce to the music locker world that will make them a formidable competitor:

We’ve been keen followers of developments at CloudEngines, the outfit behind the Pogoplug network-attached storage device, ever since we reviewed the first one back in late 2009. This month, a little over two years after the Pogoplug debuted, brings a whole raft of new offerings from the company — including one that may bring a big surge to NAS popularity in general.

This is all over Twitter today.

Grab your iThing, open Safari, and use the Google search box to search for “tilt”.

Your search results are… tilted.

Is this an easter egg? An April Fools gag that someone forgot to switch off?

Was there insider trading involved in Monday’s sell-off of Apple stock just prior to news that NASDAQ would rebalance several tech stocks, including Apple? That’s the concern of some investors trying to understand why $4.2 (1.2 percent) was shaved off the high-flying Cupertino, Calif. company.

“Doesn’t it feel as if someone got a call regarding the Apple re-weighting at 2pm on Friday afternoon, when the stock was trading at $348 and change?” Fortune quotes one investor. Monday’s sell-off of Apple shares happened on a “day when the Dow was up and a couple analysts had just raised their Apple target prices,” the magazine adds.

According to Digitimes, iPad 2 supply might not be constrained by touch panels, but rather by the cover lenses needed for the touch panel modules.

Although Apple has reportedly sold between 2.4 to 2.5 million iPad 2s in March alone, and it’s thought that once supply ramps up, Apple may be able to ship over four million units per month through the coming financial quarter.

However, all of these plans could be stymied unless manufacturers ramp up their production of the necessary lens component. Right now, TPK Touch Solutions and G-Tech Optoelectronics are trying to produce more cover lenses for the iPad 2, along with competing devices… and many sales will be determined by their ability to cope with surprise demand.

At their EOY financial call, Apple COO Tim Cook made it clear that he thought Apple could have sold more iPads if they could have made enough of them to satisfy demand. He may very well be saying something similar at EOY 2011.

Could another flash memory crunch be on the horizon? The growing introduction of cloud-based services and talk of a high-capacity iPhone 5 later this year will catch NAND memory makers flat-footed if an iPad 3 is unveiled in the next six months. That’s the concern of one analyst who watches the memory sector.

Although memory manufacturing facilities were built with an eye toward greater use in cell phones, there was no “accounting for any potential detrimental impact from streaming services,” according to Matthew Bryson of Avian Securities. Both Apple and Google will join the push, with the Cupertino, Calif. company “leading the hardware/OS/cloud charge with a completely integrated product built around post-PC devices like the iPhone5 and iPad3,” he tells investors Wednesday.

Your doctor probably loves his or her iPhone for reading news on the go as much as you do. A massive survey of U.S. doctors found that while Android use is growing in the general population, physicians prefer iPhones.

Bulletin Healthcare found that iPhone mobile consumption of its subscription-based medical news climbed 45% between June 2010 and February 2011. The growth spurt was found in its 550,000 healthcare providers.

Although any official hint at how many iPad 2 tablets Apple has sold likely won’t come until later this month, when the Cupertino, Calif. company makes a financial announcement, there are plenty of leaks. If ‘follow the money’ is the mantra in Washington, for the Silicon Valley press corps, the equivalent is ‘follow the supply.’ A new report suggests Apple sold 2.4 million to 2.6 million iPad 2 units in March.

According to chatter heard by DigiTimes, between 4 million and 4.5 million iPads are being shipped monthly for 12 million during the three-month second quarter of 2011. The report, based on touchscreen suppliers, indicates the next-generation iPad 2 is selling at a much faster rate than the original tablet. The first iPad took 28 days before selling the first million units.

For some people, getting the chance to work for Apple seems like one of the coolest jobs on the planet. Being surrounded by everything Apple. Super discounts on iMacs. Talking to customers about how incredibly magical the products are. If that all sounds awesome to you, then go ahead and disregard the fact that it’s easier to get into Harvard University than to get a job at Apple.

Here is Cult of Mac’s first-hand look at how the Apple hiring process plays out.

Who’d a thunk? Consumer Reports says that the iPad 2 is the best tablet out there right now, compared to models from Archos, Dell, Motorola, Samsung, and ViewSonic.

Of course, since Consumer Reports still stupidly clings to its insistence that they can’t recommend the iPhone 4, which is still the best and most in-demand smartphone on the market, you know their recommendation of the iPad 2 is going to come with some backhanded compliments.

“So far, Apple is leading the tablet market in both quality and price, which is unusual for a company whose products are usually premium priced,” said Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor at Consumer Reports. “However, it’s likely we’ll see more competitive pricing in tablets as other models begin to hit the market.”

If CR is implying that other companies are going to undercut iPad on price, that’s not necessarily likely at all, at least soon. Apple controls a huge chunk of the tablet supply chain right now, and while that hold will loosen with time, right now it seems like Apple’s the only company out there who can really make a $500 tablet without selling it at a loss.

Either way, though, the iPad 2 did well in Consumer Reports’ estimation, and at the end of the day, they recommended the 32GB iPad 2 with 3G as the best value for the price. Hey, that’s the one I have!

For most intents and purposes, I’m really content with my Smart Cover (although I’d advise anyone not to get one of the more expensive leather ones, since the leather is cheap and they seem to scuff easily) but there’s always going to be people who want to stand out from the crowd and own an iPad cover just as eccentric as they are.

For those bright young things, perhaps this DIY 1945 iPad Case, made from the refuse of a basement: a few pieces of old wood, some old shorts for padding, a few screws, a luggage tag, a couple old kitchen magnets, some wood glue and wood stain. Pretty gorgeous, methinks.

Right now, the 2010 MacBook Airs are the only Macs that still boast the stinky Core 2 Duo CPU, compared to the much faster processors Intel has released since. Even though the Air is a speed demon thanks to its ubiquitous SSDs, Apple will have to update it at some point… and Intel may have just announced the Sandy Bridge processors that will probably go into the MacBook Air starting later this year.

According to a source speaking to 9to5Mac, when the Apple Store went down this morning, there was only one major change in the database when it came back online… the total elimination of the white iPhone 4 from Apple’s database.

Not only is the SKU gone from Apple’s system, but images that were once for the white iPhone 4 have now been tweaked to feature the black iPhone 4 instead.

Teens are increasingly purchasing or interested in owning an iPhone. That’s the word from one research firm that reports 17 percent of U.S. teens now own the Apple handset with more than a third expecting to buy one in the next six months.

Although that those expectant iPhone owners are sometimes overlooked, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggests this year’s survey finding of 37 percent suggests certain sales for Apple are on the horizon. “Historical data shows that the intent to buy translates into share gains,” he told investors Tuesday. In a spring 2010 survey of teens, Munster found 33 percent of U.S. teens planned to buy an iPhone, which translated to a three-point rise in Spring 2011 ownership.

Job listings for ‘Store Leader’ positions on Apple’s German site suggest that the company is opening a new retail store in Augsburg, Germany, which could be its sixth in the country following the recent opening of the Dresden store.

The listings were first picked up by German Mac blog Macerkopf.de (Google translation) after selecting the state of Bavaria in Apple’s online job search. It’s unclear where exactly in Augsburg the new store could be located, however, it’s expected it will end up in the biggest mall in that area – the City-Galerie Augsburg – around 40 miles from the Munich store.

Apple announced that it plans to open 40-50 new stores in 2011, around half of which would be located outside the United States. At the end of the company’s first fiscal quarter for this year, it had 236 stores in the U.S. and 87 internationally.

[via ifoAppleStore]

Toshiba unveiled its new SmartNAND flash memory on Tuesday with support for flash chips up to 64GB. With a next-generation 24-nanometer process, the new design has a better memory controller that speeds up the read and write process, and is more space efficient – perfect for devices like the iPhone.

It’s possible the new SmartNAND could replace the Samsung flash memory in the current iPhone 4 and allow for a 64GB iPhone 5. Apple has already moved away from the Samsung flash since the launch of the iPhone 4, choosing Toshiba’s NAND flash for both the forth-generation iPod touch and the iPad 2.

The 32GB and 64GB SmartNAND options won’t start being mass produced until at least June, which could be one of the reasons why the launch of the iPhone 5 may be delayed until September – as recent rumors claim.

A 64GB iPhone 4 prototype was recently discovered on the Chinese grey market, and reports at the time ruled out a 64GB forth-generation device, suggesting instead that Apple was testing the larger flash memory for a forthcoming iPhone.

[via Electronista]

An update to the ultrasn0w unlocking tool that will fix bugs with the latest version of iOS is nearly ready to go public. Dev-Team member MuscleNerd revealed on Twitter yesterday that all issues with the 4.3.1 firmware are now fixed, and that the unlock will be go live after some testing.

The new version of ultrasn0w will not unlock new basebands, however – it’s purely for users that have already performed the hack on their device and wish to retain the unlock when they update to iOS 4.3.1.

When it’s ready, ultrasn0w will be available to download through Cydia. Users updating to 4.3.1 will need to use the latest version of PwnageTool (Mac) or Sn0wBreeze (Windows) to preserve their baseband.

[via iPhone Download Blog

It’s another one of those Android marketing meetings.

Big Boss is angry.

“We tried radical,” he fumes. “You gave me radical, but it’s not good enough.”

You’re right boss, you say. Not good enough.

Apple is working on a new dock connector for its devices that will boast high-speed connections including USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt, according to a new patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. Entitled “Reduced Size Multi-Pin Male Plug Connector,” the patent reveals a smaller 30-pin dock connector that will also feature a dual-lane DisplayPort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUFXNYT80k

You’ve got to watch this video. I know April Fool’s Day is long gone, but this one is worth it. It’s the perfect set-up: a local news team prepped a segment about a new app that emits smell and taste via “piezo-electrics.” The other anchor, who’s in on the joke, tells his colleague that amazingly, it works. Skeptically, she tries it out, and everyone cracks up. Very funny.

Via NextRound

Don’t get me wrong — I love chunky; chunky is great to hold, easy to get along with. Thin, though — well, thin is just plain fast. It’s stealthy, slinky, looks great sitting on a desk. Of course, we’re talking about the latest addition to Seagate’s line of GoFlex modular drives, the GoFlex Slim external laptop drive.

Seagate says it’s the “world’s thinnest”; we haven’t whipped out a tape measure yet, but our very brief hands-on time with the 9mm-thick drive at CES definitely left us with the impression it was stealthy. We’re thinking the drive is probably aimed broadly at professional women, judging by its product shots.

The fast-spinning, 7200RPM drive comes in one flavor and price right now: $100 for 320GB.

If you’re the kind of person who loves to watch commercials – you’ll love Apple’s new iAd Gallery application that just hit the App Store. Apple describes the application as a “celebration of advertising,” allowing you to view every iAd currently on the network.

Featuring adverts from some of the world’s biggest brands, a spinning wheel view lets you scroll through the collection of iAds and view the ones that take your fancy. If you really enjoy a particular add, you can ‘love’ it and make it one of your favorites. You can also search the collection by advertiser, category, or feature.

It’s not just ads, however – you can also learn more about the products advertised and the advertising agencies behind them.

Despite all of its features, I’m still not sure I get the point of the iAd Gallery application. I spend a lot of time trying to avoid adverts, especially within iOS applications, so the idea of an app – with no other content but iAds – is my idea of a virtual nightmare.

Having said that, it’s certainly worth checking out – if only for a few minutes. In true Apple style it’s well made, easy to use, and contains a catalogue of iAds that aren’t quite as boring as other adverts.

Only Apple could get away with making an application full of its adverts and still be respected.

[via AppAdvice]

Apple has pressured Toyota to remove a custom theme for jailbroken iPhones advertising the Scion car.

Available through Cydia, the interface theme was perhaps a sign that jailbreaking was gaining mainstream acceptance.

However, Cydia was contacted on Monday night and asked to remove the interface theme. According to Toyota’s advertising agency, Velti, Apple contacted Toyota and asked for the theme to be pulled.

Toyota complied to “maintain their good relationship with Apple,” according to a spokesperson for Velti speaking to ModMyi.com.

Apparently the controversial theme had been available since February 10th, but flew under Apple’s radar until Toyota started advertising it on sites like ModMyi.com at the the end of March and it got some press.

Jailbreaking is not illegal, but Apple says its voids warranties.

Via MacObserver.

Celebrated computer iconographer Susan Kare is offering limited-edition prints of her famous Macintosh icons for the first time.

The signed and numbered prints include the world-famous Happy Mac icon and Moof the Dog Cow.

The prints are available from Kare Prints and range in price from $89 (8.5” x 11” edition of 200) to $499 (30” x 40” edition of 100).

Hit the link for more detailed pictures of the prints:

More indications that the iPad is cutting into PC sales, as well as their suppliers. Tuesday, one analyst put a “hold” recommendation on Intel’s stock, telling investors the iPad 2 could eat into notebook demand.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Bobby Burleson also lowered his price target on Intel shares to $19 from $22. Intel reportedly could announce disappointing second-quarter sales due partly to the supply disruption from Japan, along with Apple’s impact on notebook sales. He cut Intel 2011 revenue expectations to $48.75 billion, down from a previous $50.5 billion projection.