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Apple’s tagline for this year’s WWDC is “Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X.” Jim Dalrymple over at the Loop says that tagline is worded very carefully, and that according to his sources, Apple will not announce any new hardware at the event… pushing the release of the iPhone 5 back indefinitely.

Traditionally, Apple unveils the newest iPhone every June at WWDC, along with iPod Touches in September and new iPads in March, but according to Dalrymple, Apple’s going to mix this up this year. Why?

“You get caught up in patterns, and it holds true, until it doesn’t,” Gartenberg told The Loop. “There is no reason for Apple to follow a predictable yearly pattern, and it keeps their competition off guard a little bit.”

As he seems to do every year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs not only made Barron’s list of the world’s most valuable CEOs… he was declared “without a doubt” the most valuable one.

Taking his place amongst bigwigs like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathwawy), Reed Hastings (Netflix) and more, Steve Jobs is cited for racking up 100 million iPhones sold, the release of the iPad and Apple’s incredible golden touch overall.

Barron’s list of most valuable CEOs isn’t a popularity contest: it’s based on the objective metric of stock performance, which has been on such an upward trajectory for the past few years that seemingly the only thing that can sink it is Jobs’ retirement (and even then, given the talent and culture Jobs has put together over at Apple, only temporarily).

This isn’t the first distinction Barron’s has awarded Apple this year: back in February, Barron’s handed Apple its second Most Respected Company award in as many years.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BBDrwnCNo&feature=player_embedded#at=143

For all of you iPad 2 fans outside the U.S. who waited for the new device over the weekend, here’s one unboxing from an Italian customer that underlines the reverential quality many Apple fans experience when opening a new product.

I’m not entirely sure the Vatican would approve, though the garlic and dried peppers — perfect for aglio, olio e pepperoncino, every Italian’s pinch-hit pasta dish — are a nice touch.

If you waited in line to get your iPad 2 on March 25, was it what you hoped?

Via The Apple Lounge

Tablet manufacturers looking to compete against Apple’s iPad see small as their biggest opportunity. That’s the upshot of a Monday report indicating 7-inch tablets have more room on shelves as the Cupertino, Calif. company dismisses such tablets as unusable.

“Korea-based Samsung Electronics’ 7-inch Galaxy Tab and ViewSonic’s 7-inch ViewPad are both generating stronger sales than their 10.1-inch models,” a Taiwan-based industry publication writes. While the 10.1-inch versions offer greater expandability for such things as keyboards, sales are described as “not as stable” as the smaller 7-inch tablets.

Just in case you thought these guys mistook the line outside of London’s Regent Street Apple Store for a line for Justin Bieber tickets, guess what? The UK’s sold out of iPad 2s.

Boy, I sure wish we had this here: down in Oz, would-be Australian iPad 2 buyers can reserve their tablets right through Apple’s official retail site, then walk in and pick them up the next day. Magic!

Well, magic if any of Apple Australia’s retail stores actually had any iPads to dole out, which they don’t.

Still, Apple Retail stores are getting new iPad 2s in on a three or four-times weekly schedule, which means that if you’re an Australian wanting to get an iPad 2, constantly refreshing that page and swooping in on any available unit is probably the most painless way for you to get yourself an iPad.

Maybe we’ll see this same functionality roll out to the States? Sooner please, Apple.

[via MacStories]

Brits depending on their iOS devices to wake them up for work or school in the morning got a seriously gaffe-prone error call this morning, after alarms all around the Isles failed to go off at the proper time this morning, ranging from going off one hour too late to not at all.

It wasn’t just Brits either. The rest of Europe’s iPhone owners were plagued by the same bug, after clocks were moved forward by an hour on Sunday.

The culprit? Apparently, that same stupid time change bug that hit iPhone users last autumn.

It’s not entirely clear if this is a bug still present in iOS 4.3 or one that is only affecting users who have failed to update from iOS 4.2.1.

Any of our readers in Europe want to help us get to the bottom of this? Join the comments and give us a rundown of what happened with your alarms this morning, along with what device and version of iOS you have.

Hey! You! Get off of my cloud! Okay, those may not be their words, but Amazon reportedly may make some announcement about a cloud-based storage service this week. If true, the online retail giant could beat Apple and Google to the punch.

Amazon is talking about a so-called ‘digital locker’ to Hollywood and music moguls, which could store music, movies and ebooks, according to one report. Although there is no word how receptive the execs are to such a plan, it may be further than Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company is said to have gotten an earful from music heads that don’t agree on streaming fees. The labels want fees for every stream, no matter if it comes from an iTunes purchase or an already-owned CD.

This is ace. This is precisely what the iPad 2 is all about.

For those of you who don’t know them, Dan and Dan are a mysteriously identical comedy duo from the UK. If you like this style of weird Brit humor, there’s lots more of it on their YouTube channel.

Apple just announced the official dates of this year’s WWDC expo, and as rumored, they are June 6th and June 8th. Accompanying the announcement, Apple has posted a teaser page for their annual Apple Designer Awards, which seek to recognize “apps that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation and outstanding design.”

The good news here is that, unlike last year, Apple will be giving out awards to both iOS and OS X developers. This is a relief, since only iOS developers were recognized last year, with Steve Jobs mysteriously saying that this was just “the normal cycle of things.”

The bad news? If your software isn’t on the App Store, Apple’s not going to bother recognizing your software, no matter how excellent. With the iOS App Store, that’s a non-issue, but considering the fact that the majority of Mac software isn’t on the Mac App Store yet, it prevents developers with a choice: either give Apple a 30% cut of all of your software sales or don’t qualify for an award. That’s sure to cause controversy.

Apple has been using Liquid Contact Indicators(LCI) in practically all of their devices for as long as I can remember, but it looks like with the iPad 2 they’ve stopped using them.

This makes sense because these sensors have not been all that reliable and subject to a lot of false positives from something as mundane as sweat. In 2009 this was a big news topic that I covered for CNET and I spoke to local Channel 2 news in Houston, Texas about complaints they had received from iPhone users. Even CNN had something to say about it.

It was so easy to trip these sensors that there was even a lawsuit over it.

Apple released an update to Xcode 4. The new version 4.0.1 was released on Friday and includes the following bug fixes:

• Improved Assistant editor logic when switching among different file types
• Fixed a bug that prevented indexing of some projects
• Fixed a bug related to nil settings in the Core Data model editor
• Fixed a bug in LLVM GCC 4.2 and LLVM compiler 2.0 for iOS projects

Finally here are additional bug fixes and stability improvements like practically every Apple software update ever released. Whatever they are I’m sure they are good for you!

You can get a copy of this update via the Mac App Store or if you are a developer at Apple’s developer site.

The battle against the jailbreakers has always seemed to be an uphill one for Apple; it takes hackers just days to break into the latest iOS releases, and last year federal regulators said that it was no longer illegal to hack or jailbreak an iPhone. However, there is one thing Apple can but a definite stop to, and that’s accessing Cydia using its Wi-Fi networks in Apple retail stores.

If you try accessing Cydia on a device connected to one of Apple’s Wi-Fi hotspots, you’ll be surprised to see Apple’s website load instead.

Although this isn’t going to deter jailbreaking one slight little bit, it’s still rather funny.

[via iPhoneDownloadBlog]

iOS 4.3.1 was only released a couple of days ago, but thanks to one hacker, it’s already possible to jailbreak the software with PwnageTool 4.2. Before you jump into this, however, there are some things you need to know…

This is a tethered jailbreak, so you’ll have to hook your device up to your computer every time you need to reboot – this could pose a problem if your device crashes while you’re out and about and away from your computer. At the moment, this jailbreak is still in its early stages and not considered a stable release – it’s best not to perform this on your primary device.

With that said, if you’d still like to perform the jailbreak, you’ll need the following things:

• PwnageTool 4.2
• iOS 4.3.1 firmware
• iTunes 10.2.1
• Mac OS X
• PwnageTool bundle for iOS 4.3.1
• Universal Ramdisk Fixer
• tetheredboot utility

You can then follow the step-by-step guide over at Redmond Pie to have your way with your device. Good luck!

According to two “solid sources” for TechCruch, Apple’s forthcoming iOS 5 software may bring with it a major revamp of the operating system built around the cloud, but we’ll have to wait for a fall release to enjoy its new features.

A fall release would break the pattern of previous iOS releases, which have typically been unveiled in early spring and released alongside a new iPhone in the summer. However, it’s believed iOS 5 may come with a third-generation iPad rumored to launch later this year.

The TechCrunch sources say that:

• iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS.
• It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won’t be released then.
• The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of the iPad 3.
• The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this.
• Yes, one of those is very likely a “music locker” service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple’s annual music-themed event.
• But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple’s developer event which will take place in June.
• One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members.
• OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well.

Earlier reports had suggested that iOS 5 would be previewed at Apple’s iPad 2 keynote earlier this year, and when that didn’t happen, new reports then rumored that another event in April would take place to talk about iOS 5 and a revamped MobileMe. If the TechCrunch sources are correct, it seems this event won’t go ahead either.

Unfortunately, these sources didn’t provide any details on the iPhone 5, but we’re guessing the device is still on track for its unveiling at WWDC with a launch this summer. Of course, if that is the case, the device will launch with the latest version of iOS 4 and not iOS 5.

It’s not just Americans that are crazy for the iPad 2. Check out this video of the huge line outside the Apple Store on London’s Regent Street on Friday. It just goes on and on.

Via OnlyGizmso

Early this morning, Jay Freeman, aka “Saurik“, released Cydia 1.1 to the world. With it comes a number of fixes, new features, and enhancements to make everybody’s jailbreaking an even more greater experience.

We’ll tell you everything you need to know about this new release, what it means to you, and what it might mean when it comes to the iOS 4.3 untethered jailbreak.

Check out this totally pro video of the iPad 2 launch in Munich, Germany. It was shot, edited and uploaded entirely on an iPad 2 using iMovie. The entire process took less than a hour. It’s even in HD (720p).

It was shot by journalist Richard Gutjahr. Gutjahr made headlines himself last year as the first guy in line for the original iPad at Apple’s 5th Ave. Store in New York. Gutjahr bumped pro-line sitter Greg Packer.

It’s pretty amazing that such a professional video was prepared and published in less than an hour. Could never do it that quickly with a camcorder/MacBook/Aircard combo.

Here’s the finished product:

Here are some pictures and an explanation of the equipment and methods (in German).

The first “real” competition to the original iPad was the 7-inch Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it looks like the first “real” competition to the iPad 2 will be the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a Honeycomb tablet boasting a 10.1-inch, 1280×800 display, a 1GHz dual-core CPU, dual-antenna WiFi, a 3MP back-facing camera and a 2MP webcam that starts at prices of just $499… all in a form factor that Samsung claims is both thinner and lighter than the iPad 2.

Well, except it turns out that Samsung’s claims about a thinner iPad 2? They appear to not be true.

Fritz Nelson of InformationWeek ended up getting a couple comparison shots between the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the iPad 2, and found that contrary to Samsung’s claims, the Galaxy Tab was still slightly thicker.

It’s possible that the unit on display was a prototype, so maybe the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is thinner than the iPad 2. But my guess is it’s all a marketing lie, considering the fact that Samsung’s also been busted for hiring actors to pretend to be fans of the Galaxy Tab.

Who really cares? Honestly, if buying a tablet with Android installed on it isn’t going to dissuade you — and it should, given the execrable history of past Android devices being updated to later, more feature-rich versions of the OS by their manufacturers — a matter of a couple millimeters and a couple of actors isn’t going to cure you of your delusions either.

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple will release the first Gold Master release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion sometime in the near future.

It’s an interesting rumor. Although they are classifying the release as “GM1,” Apple traditionally releases Gold Masters only a few weeks before the actual software ships. If Lion is already at Gold Master status, barring any huge problems, Apple must be fairly convinced that Lion is fully baked.

Lion is slated for a Summer release date, but if Apple does release even the initial Gold Master in the next month, it bodes well for Lion debuting very early in summer… and very possibly late spring.

With any other company, you’d chalk this up to coincidence, but with Apple, you suspect meaning: Swedish designer Mattias Östergren noticed that the iPhone 4 fits exactly inside the dent below the trackpad in the MacBook Air that allows the ultraportable laptop to be easily opened.

At the very least, it shows what the base unit of reference for Apple’s designs are these days: everything’s measured in terms of iPhones.

By now, seems to be pretty well accepted that texting while driving is even more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. SuperTooth, a French company behind a variety of Bluetooth gadgets, released a version of their hands-free Bluetooth speakerphone earlier this week at the CTIA mobile conference in Florida.

The SuperTooth HD is a more powerful version of the company’s other models, like the SuperTooth Voice, and features two speakers outputting a relatively powerful a 5 watts through a 5.4 watt amplifier (which SuperTooth says is three times as powerful as any other speakerphone out there). Pair that with dual mics, and you’ve got what sounds like a fairly formidable hands-free package.

The HD also has the same voice-control and text-to-speech features as some of the company’s earlier offerings, like answering calls, retrieving voicemail and composing Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and text messages. The SuperTooth HD will be available next month for $129.

Timing for me was good this afternoon. I went to sync my iPad 2 on my Mac and iTunes told me that an iOS update was available for it. Yes indeed and much to my surprise — iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) is out.

The latest firmware offers the following improvements and fixes:

• Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on iPod touch (4th generation)
• Resolves bugs related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks
• Fixes image flicker when using Apple Digital AV Adapter with some TVs
• Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services

The update supports: iPhone 4 (GSM model only), iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation). The update isn’t available of Verizon iPhone 4 users who remain on iOS 4.2.6.

There isn’t any mention of a fix for battery woes encountered by users across practically all iOS devices, but I hope that it addresses that problem as well.

Information about security fixes in this update can be found in this Apple knowledge base document.

Please share your experiences with the update after you’ve installed it by leaving a comment.

[via iTunes]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRo1ZgXVcus&feature=player_embedded

The iPad 2 hits stores today in 25 countries — from Australia to Canada — and Apple fans around the world are lining up just like their U.S. counterparts for the latest edition of the device.

In Sydney, Australia, the line stretched around the block. In Liverpool, England about 20 people started camping out last night to get ready for the 5 p.m. launch today. Some are second-time buyers.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the Smart Cover, he put it forward as a solution to the status quo, where you have this gorgeous device and yet the only way to protect it was to sheathe it on all sides. The resulting cover is a nifty gadget in its own right, but it’s not exactly very protective: while it’ll guard the screen from being scratched in your bag, it won’t cushion your iPad 2 if it falls, and it won’t protect the back.

XGear’s Smart Cover Enhancer probably won’t protect your iPad 2 from much of a fall, but it will at least save the back of your iPad 2 from a gouging while working with your existing Smart Cover.