Apple is close to buying PrimeSense, the company that invented the 3D motion tracking technology used in the original Xbox Kinect. Whispers of the acquisition were first reported by an Israeli publication called Calcalist back in July, and the site is now reporting that Apple has a deal in place with PrimeSense to the tune of around $345 million.
While Apple’s mysterious ‘iTV’ product seems like an obvious reason for the acquisition, PrimeSense has also developed a smaller 3D sensor called Capri that’s more suited for mobile.
While everyone seems certain that Apple is working on some sort of wearable, exact details on the mysterious ‘iWatch’ remain allusive. Publications like The New York Timeshave said Apple is working on a watch with a curved glass display, and Tim Cook has hinted that the wrist is “profoundly interesting” for wearables.
The latest rumor on the iWatch is that Apple is developing two sizes: a larger display to market towards men, and a slightly smaller display for women.
In the past three years, Apple has dared to be dull.
During Apple’s best years, between 2007 and 2010, Apple introduced the first iPhone and the first iPad, two world-changing products that now define the company (and bring in most of its revenue). These products, along with their touch interfaces and apps stores, were a shock to the industry.
That’s great, Apple. But what have you done for me lately?
Here’s one theory about how Apple works: The company finds a horrible content consumption experience. They figure out how the experience can be made wonderful. They work on the products until they’re ready, both from product quality and price perspectives. Then they ship it and spend the next few years refining and perfecting the original vision.
If that oversimplification about how Apple works is accurate, then Apple isn’t really in full control of when its groundbreaking new products ship. They have to wait for technology, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), or for various industries to come around to making a critical mass of content deals.
In the past three years, every Apple announcement has been preceded by speculation and rumor that Apple would at long last announce an iWatch, an iTV set and other products that would signal a radical new product category for Apple. And every announcement ended in disappointment. Every announcement was about refinement of old products, rather than bold launches of new products.
Will Apple ever enter new markets again, including the ones perennially rumored?
I say they will. The fact that they haven’t shipped the long-rumored iWatch or iTV, for example, makes perfect sense from a readiness perspective.
In fact, I think the next three years will be twice as awesome as the iPhone-iPad years, in the sense that Apple will break into four new businesses. Why? Because the technology and content deals will fall into place during this time.
Remember those old “home of the future” TV episodes from the 1970s, which invariably ended up with something going wrong and an automated voice yelling warning messages?
Well, someone at Apple does too (hopefully minus the “something going wrong” part), since Apple’s latest patent — issued by the U.S. Patent Office — describes a wireless communication system able to predict when to turn on devices such as your lighting or air conditioning based on your current location as opposed to a pre-programmed routine.
Most developers have had their iOS 7 apps ready for weeks but Apple is still racing to update all of its own apps to mesh better with iOS 7’s new look. The Remote app for iPhone and iPad is the latest Apple app to get the iOS 7 treatment as Apple just published version 4.0 to the App Store.
The updated app comes with an all new iOS 7-style look as well as support for iTunes 11.1 but there’s no mention of new features in the release notes so it looks like we’re just getting a facelift for now. iPhone and iPad owners can use the device to control Apple TV as well as remotely access computers on the same Home Sharing account to play music, queue up additional songs, create playlists and more.
The new update can be found in the App Store for free.
The 2013 iPad Air was an obvious design influence on the iPhone 6. Photo: Apple
Unless you got incredibly drunk last night and you don’t know what day it is, you’re probably already aware of the fact that the iPad Air launches today. And if you don’t want to venture out and wait in line to get one, you can order yours now from the Apple online store.
It’s almost a given that the iPhone 6 will feature a new, more-advanced camera — although there's been far less of a consensus on what form that camera is likely to take. Some things are known for sure: Apple recently snapped up Nokia’s PureView camera engineer Ari Partinen, although his impact is more likely to be felt on the iPhone 6s or iPhone 7.
Apple also recently received an electronic image-stabilization system instead of an optical one, essentially faking the stabilization technique using software instead of moving parts.
It’s likely that the iPhone 6 camera will have pixels that are 1.75 um instead of the iPhone 5s’ 1.5 um, too.
In what little advertising attention the iPhone 5s has received from Apple, the device’s new gold color option has been the main focal point. There are both TV and print ads in circulation that tout the gold, and the gold 5s is still the hardest to buy.
While Apple capitalizes on gold fever, the company has required that third-party developers not use the color in any of their marketing materials.
Last night, Apple released four new videos, including ads for the iPad mini with Retina Display and the iPad Air. One of those ads, Pencil, Apple used the width of a pencil as a reference point to just how light and magical the Air actually is.
If you paid close attention to the ad, though, you might have been surprised who voiced it: none less than Heisenberg himself, Bryan Cranston, also known as Walter White on TV’s Breaking Bad.
During yesterday’s iPad keynote, Apple showed several new videos to the audience. Now four of those videos have been uploaded to Apple’s official YouTube channel.
