News - page 2104

We were warning pretty much everyone we knew for months that if they hadn’t bought an iPad yet, it was a sucker move not to wait until Apple at least announced the new one… but if you or one of your friends is one of those unfortunates who caved to temptation within the last two weeks, good news: Apple will give you a partial refund for your brand new but now obsolete first-gen iPad.

Apple’s handling it the same way as they handle their refund process for Macs that have been obsoleted within a couple of weeks of a new revision being announced: just go into your local Apple Store or call up Apple, prove you bought your iPad within the past fourteen days, and they’ll give you a refund of $100, €100, or £100.

Giving refunds on obsoleted products is one of the nicer things Apple does. I mean, yeah, it’d be nicer if they actually allowed you to return your iPad, but hey, what are they going to do with them now?

[via MacTrast]

They aren’t much good at protecting your iPad from a fall, but if all you want is something to protect the screen and prop your iPad 2 up for typing or movie watching, the new Smart Covers are the bee’s knees. Made of ribbed, folding polyurethane, they attach to the iPad using magnets, and not only is merely peeling a corner of one up enough to unlock your iPad…. the inside of the smart cover will even clean and polish your screen when it’s attached.

Very neat, but it looks like Apple had some design inspiration for their iPad 2 smart covers: as TUAW notes, the new Smart Covers have an eerie resemblance to a common style of Japanese bath tub lids. It just goes to show: one of the hallmarks of good design is in being endlessly adaptable to a wide-range of problems.

When Steve Jobs ticked through the major hardware changes in the iPad 2 at yesterday’s event, one conspicuous bullet point missing from his slide was RAM. The original iPad famously only had 256MB of RAM when it launched, which was a decision that was criticized even at the time. When the iPhone 4 got a bump to 512MB, it was assumed the iPad 2 would fall in line… but Apple’s failure to document such a clear spec bump got a lot of people nervous. Surely Apple would only not mention a doubling of RAM if the RAM hadn’t been doubled?

Apparently not. A Korean semi-conductor analyst has just claimed that he knows for a fact that the new A5 SoC in the iPad 2 comes with 512MB of RAM. It’s not just double the meg, either: the new RAM is LPDDR2 RAM with a speed of 1,066MHz, which is greater memory bandwidth than the 800MHz memory in the iPhone 4.

Without hearing word straight from Apple, this only qualifies as a rumor, but we simply can’t believe Apple wouldn’t at least double the iPad’s RAM this go-around. They’d just have to, right?

When the iPad first launched, it did so at Apple Retail Stores and online, leaving the big boxes in the lurch for months. Over time, though, the iPad did eventually creep onto store shelves at the likes of Sam’s Club, Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

For the iPad 2, it doesn’t look like we’ll have to wait nearly as long: the iPad 2 will be available at Best Buy at launch, and maybe even Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club.

This is refreshing news. Apple is not taking iPad 2 pre-orders yet, which meant that anyone who wanted an iPad 2 on Friday was going to have sit in line for hours with the usual screaming idiots. Rolling out the iPad 2 at big box retailers simultaneously — even in limited numbers — should make March 11th a little more manageable.

Mac fan Sam found this cool Apple Logo lamp on eBay, and it certainly looks smart on the minimalist desk in her System Attic lair.

The lamp costs £25 (UK pounds) from ss-design-shop on eBay, and it’s available in several different colors, although I think plain white looks best, don’t you?

Details of the next-generation iPad “are in line with expectation,” however an early shipping date caught some analyst off-guard, one prominent Apple analyst told investors Wednesday afternoon.

The additional news that Apple had sold the 100 millionth iPhone also mirrored Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster’s outlook for 16.2 million sales of the iconic handset during the March fiscal quarter.

The lack of any price change or “evolutionary additions” to the initial iPad likely means the first tablet will be phased out quickly, ABI Research analyst Jeff Orr noted. Although the addition of video cameras, a dual-core processor and HDMI video output keeps the iPad 2 in the running with other tablets, it is really Apple’s ecosystem and integration with other Apple products that differentiates the company, Orr said.

The absence of a lower price is because Apple “feels they have a lack of competition,” Orr told us.

Reactions are mixed on Apple’s iPad 2 announcement. Although the new iPad held some surprises, what most caught the eye of analysts we talked with was that CEO Steve Jobs, out on medical leave, showed up to unveil the next-generation tablet. The announcement “started as an A+ for Steve Jobs presenting and the testosterone contained within the presentation,” Giles Nugent, instructor at the SAE Institute, said by e-mail.

The announcement of front and back cameras, dual processors, faster graphics and more movement sensitivity, also matched Motorola’s recently-released Xoom tablet feature-for-feature, Nugent adds. “In terms of the iPad, I would say it met expectations, but didn’t necessarily surprise anyone.”

Apple has released iTunes 10.2 which will support iOS 4.3 which will be released for free on March 11th, 2011. It also includes updates to Home Sharing.

Get it now via Software Update on your Mac or download it directly for Mac or Windows.

I feel pretty bad about yesterday’s post about the iPad 3 being the one to make a song and dance about. I’m sure the iPad 3 will be great when it comes out, but for right now, the iPad 2 is a great upgrade. This is not a ho-hum update, as our anonymous Apple staffer suggested.

It’s a rockstar from Mars update. It runs on tigerblood.

The slimmed-down weight and bulk make a big difference. It’s much easier to hold and handle. It’s pretty astonishing that Apple managed to cram in so more, yet made the case so incredibly thin. That is rockstar engineering.

The cameras should have been in there all along, of course, but the addition now makes the iPad much closer to feature-complete.

But the real magic of the device is the integration of hardware and software. Look at the piano in Garageband. You tickle the virtual keys softly and it plays softly. But hammer on them and you sound like Little Richard. The iPad 2’s screen is touch-sensitive, thanks to the built-in accelerometer, which tells the iPad how hard you are touching the screen. Watch the video of it in action here. It really is pretty astonishing!

Without that integration of hardware and software, other tablets are just fancy digital picture frames, as Wired’s Brian Chen noted on Twitter.

The iPad 2 is pure Apple: it proves that Apple is its own most ruthless competitor. Overnight, 15 million first-generation iPads were rendered obsolete.

Apple’s competitors are dead in the water. Steve Jobs is a master of hyperbole, but this time he’s right. There’s no doubt about it: 2011 is the year of the iPad 2.

A new Apple HDMI adapter announced at the iPad 2 keynote earlier today was accompanied by a slide of the accessory hooked up to the second-generation device, however, Steve forgot to mention that it would also be compatible with the iPhone 4, the fourth-generation iPod touch, and the original iPad.

Unfortunately, movies and slideshows will be capped at 720p on these devices as opposed to the 1080p output that the iPad 2 can throw out. We’re assuming this is the difference between Apple’s A4 and A5 chips.

The ‘Apple Digital AV Adapter‘ is priced at $39 and is expected to ship later this month. If you head on over to the Apple Store you’ll notice the full list of supported devices within the product’s description.

It didn’t take long for eBay to become awash with iPad 2 pre-order listings from hundreds of sellers guaranteeing worldwide delivery after launch day, which is good news for those outside the U.S. who need to get their hands on a second-generation iPad when it launches.

Expect to pay over the odds to get it early, however. Many sellers are asking for at least $1000, while I’m yet to find one that’ll take less than $800 as a ‘But It Now’. The dreamer above is asking for a ridiculous $10,000 and couldn’t even be bothered to include a pic. They strangely advertise same-day shipping, though! Smells fishy…

It’ll be interesting to see what color iPad 2 you guys are interested in. Black is the classic color, but white is distinctive and new.

So what color will it be: black or white?

[polldaddy poll=4648411]

Don’t be fooled by the photo above — it was drizzling and bleary Wednesday as the Apple universe converged on San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where Steve Jobs announced the imminent arrival of iPad2.

Based on the design enhancements and new specs of the latest magical device out of Cupertino, Apple, Inc. ought to enjoy sunny days and clear skies as far as the eye can see.

[polldaddy poll=”4647872″]

The iPad 2 is here. It costs the same, but the latest version is thinner, comes in black or white and now rocks FaceTime, rear and front facing webcams plus a gyroscope for your gaming pleasure.

The hotter sibling of the original iPad starts shipping March 11th.

iMovie’s not the only iLife staple coming to iOS this month, though. Apple’s now announcing Garage Band for iOS.

Featuring touch instruments including grand piano, organs, and guitars, guitar amps and effects, 8-track recording and mixing, 250+ loops and compatibility with the Mac version, Garage Band for iOS turns your iPad into a musical instrument.

When you load up the app, the first thing you see is an instrument browser. Tap one and it brings up the instrument to fill the display. Apple showed off the grand piano as an example: keys were tappable like a real piano, with a button for pedaling, and the accelerometer is used to measure the force with which your fingers are striking the display to determine dynamics and volume.

Each instrument is different, but uses a similar loyal approach. The drums and organs are simularly amazing. It’s breathtaking. On the organ, you can not only slide your note up along the keys, but also tweak the vibrato as you go. On the drums, you can get rim sounds if you hit the rim of the snare, or change the sound of the cymbal.

The music that is going to come out of the iPad thanks to Garage Band is going to defy belief. You don’t even need to know how to play: just load up the Smart Guitar and start strumming.

Recording is simple, toggled by a bright red button at the top of every display. To toggle tracks, you just hit the tracks button, allowing you to overlay multiple instruments, with support for up to 8 tracks. You can trim your recordings, shift them around, etc.

Once you’re done, you can email your song from right within GarageBand, or just send to your iTunes library.

GarageBand for iPad will be available on March 11th for $4.99 in the App Store.

The big news today for me is that Steve Jobs looks as healthy as ever. Yes he’s thin, but he looks good and his voice is strong. See for yourself. Watch the 30-second video below, taken from CNN’s live stream of this morning’s event.

This is NOT a man with six weeks to live. Long live Steve!

Now that the iPad has a video camera, you’ll need something to edit videos together. Enter iMovie for iOS, which Apple is announcing today.

Features of iMovie for iOS include a precision editor, multitrack audio recording, new themes, AirPlay to Apple TV, and the ability to share your videos in HD.

A universal app, iMovie for iOS will also run on the iPhone. When you start up the app, there’s a new home screen which shows thumbnails of your movies in poster format.

Click through, and the iMovie interface is up top with the timeline below. A camera button on the right lets you use your device’s camera to record in realtime, or pull in from your video bin.
Tap on a clip and you get two handles to choose the segment you want to include: a reverse pinch triggers the precision editor for a more precise edit.

In iMovie for iOS you have full control over transitions: press and hold on top dot to choose the point within the video that you want to end. You can also add and subtract frames from both sides of a clip simultaneously, and view the audiowave forms of all your clips. There’s also a new voiceover recording system.

For music, you can choose songs from your iPod library, or choose another theme’s music. A Share button lets you send to YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, CNN iReport, and to iTunes.

iMovie will be available on the App Store on March 11th for $5.

Since the iPad 2 is getting FaceTime cameras, Apple is bringing PhotoBooth to iOS.

Noting that the iPad 2 is so powerful that it can deal with nine live video streams at once, Apple demonstrates the real-time effect demos, which work similarly in iOS PhotoBooth as they do on the desktop.

With multitouch, you can now manipulate photo effects just by touching the screen, which is pretty nifty.

It doesn’t look radically different from PhotoBooth on the desktop, but it doesn’t need to be. Either way, a million loitering teenagers at your local Apple store have one more gadget to pout in front of.

Now that the iPad 2 is out of the way, Apple wants people to know what’s coming with iOS, starting with iOS 4.3, which will ship on the iPad 2.

First of all, Safari performance is getting a major boost, thanks to Apple’s new Nitro JavaScript engine.

Next up, iTunes home sharing, which will allow you to stream all of your content directly over WiFi.

Alongside iTunes homesharing, AirPlay is going to get some much needed improvements, including the ability to allow apps and even websites to play AirPlay Video.

iOS 4.3 also adds a preference for the iPad switch: either mute, or rotation lock.

iPhone 4 customers will get personal hotspot, a la the Verizon iPhone.

It’s a small bump, but no one expected more for a point iteration. I wonder if they’ll next talk about iOS 5. That’s where the big changes will happen.

With the iPad, Apple released an official case, but while it was pretty cool, the problem with it was that Apple had gone through all this trouble to make the iPad as gorgeous as possible, and now they were covering it up.

Well, with the iPad 2, there won’t be an official Apple case: there’ll be a cover. As noted earlier today, it’ll use magnets to attach to the iPad 2, protecting the screen and locking and unlocking the iPad automatically accordingly. Fold it back and it’ll function as a prop for typing.

“They grasp it, and auto-align it. I’ll show you a little video. It’s so cool. You can remove it in a second. It adds minimal weight and thickness. It’s got a microfiber cloth that cleans the screen,” Steve enthused.

The new iPad cover will come in either polyurethane or leather. The Polyurethane cases will cost $39, the leather cases $69. They come in a whole rainbow of colors.

Along with the iPad 2, Apple will soon start shipping some cool new iPad accessories.

First of all, there’s a new dock connector that allows HDMI mirrored video output at up to 1080p. Apple says it’ll work with all apps and be perfect for teachers, lecturers, businessmen and presenters. No setup or configuration, supports rotation, and you can charge your iPad while using it.

It’ll cost $39 and should be available this month.

The iPad 2 isn’t just a speed bump, though.

As rumored, the iPad 2 is getting FaceTime, courtesy of both rear and front facing webcams. This rounds off FaceTime as a ubiquitous feature on all of Apple’s mobile prodiucts.

The iPad 2 is also inheriting the iPhone 4’s gyroscope, allowing for some neat new augmented reality and gaming functions.

The most noticeable change though? Apple has made the iPad a lot thinner. It’s now just 8.8 mm thin, compared to 13.44mm thin last generation. It’s now thinner than the iPhone 4.

As rumored, the iPad 2 will come in both black and white.

Also as rumored, the 3G version will work on both AT&T and Verizon, although you’ll need a different model for both GSM and CDMA.

Prices are also remaining the same: starting at $499 for the 16 GB WiFi version, and ending at $829 for the 64GB 3G version!

The iPad 2 will begin shipping with March 11th, with preorders available starting today.

Noting that Apple has had an exceptional first year, Steve Jobs says that in 2011, Apple wants to build off the iPad’s success. Today they’re announcing the iPad 2.

So what’s new? Apple says, first of all, an all-new design. Not tweaked, brand spanking new and redesigned from the ground up.

First of all, as rumored, it’s faster. The iPad 2 will boast a dual-core A5 CPU running at 1.2GHZ.

Second, Apple has gone all out on the graphics, and are now offering up to 9x faster graphics performance.

At the same time, power efficiency remains the same, so you’ll get the same battery life.

All in all? Apple expects the iPad 2 to be the first dual core tablet to ship in volume.

While talking about the iPad’s success, Steve Jobs was happy to trash talk the competition, specifically those of Android makers.

Quoting Samsung VP Lee Young-hee,Jobs noted that the Galaxy Tab, the iPad’s most notable competition, only sold a small number of actual devices to end users.

As for the App Store, it’s currently got over 65,000 iPad-specific apps up for download. Android Honeycomb? Only 100.

Sure, it’s not a fair comparison: Honeycomb is barely out yet. Still, the message is clear: Apple is dominating.

Steve Jobs has started addressing the crowd about the iPad 2.

“Today we’re here to talk about Apple’s third post-PC blockbuster product. That’s how we think about these things. We started with the iPod, then we added the iPhone, and then the iPad. Every one has been a blockbuster,” he said.”

“When we said the iPad was magical, people laughed at us. But it’s turned out to be magical. And people questioned whether it was an ‘unbelievable’ price — well ask our competitors.”

Noting that the iPad has over 90% market share and has generated $9.5 billion in the nine months of 2010, the iPad is Apple’s biggest product to date, and maybe the most successful consumer product ever launched.

“We’ve just never had a product get off to this fast of a start,” Jobs said.