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Apple’s next iPhone is widely expected to feature a larger 4-inch display and slimmer form factor. While speculation has been that Apple will move to a larger display to accommodate the battery required for LTE 4G networking, exactly how Apple will implement a larger display has remained up in the air. Many seem to think that Apple will change the iPhone 5’s aspect ratio to 16:9 to match the taller display. According to new evidence found in Apple’s own iOS Simulator developer app, the iOS home screen can be scaled to fit a taller 640×1136 display with 5 rows of icons.

There are plenty of stories out there about the explosive growth of mobile technology in the workplace. The trend towards bring your on device (BYOD) models in which employees are allowed or encouraged to bring their own iPhones, iPads, and other devices into the office is driving a massive expansion of the number of mobile devices used for work tasks. At the same time, the annual (or even more frequent) device an OS release cycles that have become common are driving up diversity of devices and resetting the mobile technology playing field every few months.

That constant change is forcing the IT professionals to adapt to new devices, apps, use cases, network models, and security threats faster than anything the IT industry has ever seen.

This is particularly visible in the mobile management space. A year ago, the primary method for handling mobile device and data security was to manage and lock down the device itself using one of dozens of mobile device management (MDM) suites on the market. Over the past six to nine months, however, MDM has been replaced by mobile app management (MAM) as the best way to secure business data. That’s a warp-speed transition in the mindset and goals of IT professionals.

Keeping up with all the latest Apple vs Samsung happenings can be tough, and confusing. The trials is underway in San Jose California. Some days are filled with interesting witnesses taking the stand, while others are packed with lawyers hammering boring witnesses with silly questions.

To help you keep up on the Apple vs Samsung trial we’ve compiled the entire day’s events into one short news story that consists of the best tweets from the reporters there on the scene. Here’s everything you need to about what happened in the Apple vs Samsung Trial on day four, August 6th.

Here’s an interesting little factoid for you. The Curiosity rover — which landed last night on Mars, remote controlled by a team of NASA scientists armed with MacBook Pros — runs on a RAD750 radiation-hardened single board computer.

This computer, in turn, is based on the IBM PowerPC 750 CPU, which Intel first introduce on November 10, 1997. This CPU was used by Apple in many computers in the late 1990s, including the original iMac.

As one insightful redditor notes: “Curiosity is essentially a 2-CPU Power Macintosh G3 with some nifty peripherals and one HELL of a UPS.”

Source: Reddit

Rumors of a smaller iOS dock connector have been continuing to surface in the weeks leading up to Apple’s September fall event. Initially the consensus was that we’d see a smaller 19-pin connector in the new iPhone, but lately the word on the street is that Apple will use even less pins—possibly as few as 8. Leaked photos of the next iPhone’s exterior show a much smaller dock connector, and the change is likely to meant to accommodate the device’s slimmer design.

According to a new report today, Apple will update not one, not two, but all of its iOS devices with a smaller dock connector this fall.

AT&T announced last month that it would be launching shared plans for pooling monthly data allotments between up to 10 devices per account. Instead of paying for a separate data plan for each smartphone, subscribers would be able to use a 1-20GB shared plan across multiple devices, including tablets and desktop computers. Verizon announced a similar strategy in June.

Today AT&T has confirmed that its shared data plans will be available to new and existing subscribers on Thursday, August 23rd.

After getting its nano-SIM (4FF) proposal approved by the ETSI earlier this year, Apple’s new technology was always going to make its debut in the sixth-generation iPhone. And in case you needed proof of that, here are several pictures of the new iPhone’s nano-SIM tray up against the iPhone 4S’s micro-SIM tray. As you can see, it’s significantly smaller this time around, measuring less than a centimeter wide.

Apple is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. No, wait. That was Stalinist Russia.

Whatever. The two are nearly identical in their abilities to keep secrets.

As an Apple observer myself, I’m keenly aware of the iron curtain of secrecy that prevents anyone from knowing what Apple is working on, what they’re planning and what their processes are for developing new technologies.

Rumors and speculation are always so easy to come by; unannounced facts are rare — even facts about the past.

That’s one of the great things about Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. It gave rare insight into the inner workings of Apple, to some degree.

And that’s what’s so great about the current jury trial in Silicon Valley, where Apple is suing Samsung and Samsung is suing Apple. It’s forcing Apple to reveal countless facts and events that it doesn’t want to reveal.

The lawsuit appears to be far from over. But already, it’s clear that Samsung is “winning.” Why? Because it’s a contest between a company that cares deeply about its secrets — even small ones — and a company that doesn’t care as much. So the discovery and revelation is punishing Apple.

Here are the 8 secrets Apple has been forced to reveal in court in the past couple of weeks. 

A new iPhone cometh, my friends, and sooner than you think! Find out all we know about Apple’s rumored September 12th media event on our newest CultCast, and what special goodies they will be revealing unto the world that fine, fine day.

Then — it’s been the talk of the Applesphere — those controversial new Mac ads the big A unleashed during the olympic games. Love’em or hate ’em, we’ll tell you why we’ve been less than thrilled, and so will our special guest, former Apple ad guy and long time Jobs’ collaborator, Ken Segall.

Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s newly updated and freshly debugged Podcasts App.

Show notes ahead!

Apple has always had a lot of “crazy” ideas that they throw around the company and see if it’s something they could do really well. The iPhone and iPod came about because Apple was frustrated with their MP3 players and cellphones, so they decided to see if they could do it better.

In the past there were even rumors that Steve Jobs wanted to design a car. Well during Phil Schiller’s testimony this morning at the Apple vs Samsung trial we found out that those iCar rumors actually had some serious weight behind them.

In the weeks leading up to Apple’s rumored September 12th media event we’ve seen real-looking and not-so-real-looking leaks of the next iPhone. Rumors say that the sixth-gen iPhone (commonly referred to as the “iPhone 5” for clarity’s sake) will be taller and thinner than its predecessor. The device is expected to boast a 4-inch display, 4G LTE, and a redesigned form factor.

A new video has surfaced alongside a series of images comparing the current iPhone 4S front panel with the iPhone 5’s larger front panel.

A Japanese repair house posted photos of what looked like the iPhone 5, and we were all sold. They looked like what the rumor mill predicted, and they had just the right amount of realness to send the internet into a tizzy. Now, Neowin has pictures from an anonymous source in Bangkok, Thailand of what could be the next iPhone. Maybe. Possibly.

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:

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.

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.

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.

Samsung has been trying to accuse  Apple of ripping off Sony’s design as the inspiration for the iPhone as a way to justify Samsung’s own smartphone copying tactics. Their argument is based on a prototype iPhone mockup by Shin Nishibori created in 2006 that was supposed to look like an iPhone that Sony would make.

Shin’s mockup was requested after an Apple designer read a profile on Sony’s top designer in Businessweek. Thing is, the article wasn’t about Sony’s smartphones at all, it was about their newest Walkman – the NW-A1200 (pictured above).

When AT&T reported last month that their iPhone activations only grew by 3% compared to the last quarter, a few analysts were scratching their heads at first but decided people probably weren’t buying as many new iPhones because of iPhone 5 rumors.

But what if there was a more sinister hand at play in the slumping iPhone sales? According to a new report, that’s exactly what’s happening as AT&T Regional Retail Sales Managers have instructed store managers to stop trying to sell the iPhone.

We have written before about why we believe that Apple will adopt a 19-pin dock connector for the next iPhone, but a curious report this morning suggests that, instead, Apple will get by with only eight. In addition, iOS 6 will feature a new Bluetooth 4 bridging feature that will finally make a proper iPod nano watch possible. Interesting!

Quite a bit of chatter has arisen over Apple’s newest “Genius” television ads. Some have called them “embarrassing.” Others? “Ehhh?” Even Ken Segall, one of Apple’s former advertising creative directors has given the ads a big thumbs down.

But are they really so terrible? If you take a look back, you’ll see rather quickly that Apple has produced much worse. In fact, I’d go as far to say that some of Apple’s previous ads make the new ones seem not just good, but absolutely amazing.

Don’t believe me? Check out this gallery I compiled of what I believe to be the top 10 worst Apple ads of all time. Watch out- some of them are pretty shocking.

Since the release of Snow Leopard Server three years ago, Apple has been steering its server platform away from large enterprise deployments. Instead Apple has redesigned OS X Server to meet the needs of the small to mid-size business market as well as the needs of Apple-centric departments or workgroups in larger organizations. That focus is very clear if you download and install Mountain Lion Server or look through the Mountain Lion Server documentation from Apple.

One of the transitions that Apple began in Lion and Lion Server, which were released last summer, was a move away from the traditional Mac management architecture that Apple has provided in OS X Server since it launched the platform more than a decade ago. In its place, Apple has built a management system for Macs that is very similar to the mobile management features available in iOS.

Apple is one of the world’s only companies that isn’t content to push out a great product with a few flaws. They want everything to be perfect. It’s one of their biggest strengths, but it also prevents a lot of neat products and ideas from reaching production. It turns out that the iPhone was no different during its inception, and even after all the cool prototyping and public demand for a great smartphone, Apple nearly axed the iPhone before it was launched.

Apple’s chief designer, Jony Ive, stated in a recent interview that small design flaws with the iPhone nearly caused it to get shelved, because even though the iPhone was good, it wasn’t excellent until they figured out how to fix some fundamental problems, like the proximity sensor.

According to a new report this morning, Apple is considering a stock split that could add the company to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Sanford C. Bernstein & Co predicts that Apple’s decision to issue its first dividend in 17 years to shareholders makes now a perfect time for the stock split.

Apple is currently in the NASDAQ index, but given the incredible financial success the Cupertino company has seen over the past decade, it makes perfect sense to move to the Dow Jones.

Hulu Plus has long been a curious omission on the Apple TV’s list of channels, but it now appears that Apple has quietly added it this morning to its supported steaming services. If you don’t see it, try rebooting your Apple TV. About time!

Source: Macrumors

iMore reported this morning that Apple will hold its next media event on September 12th and launch the new iPhone alongside the rumored iPad mini on Friday the 21st. Another report said today that Apple is planning to launch multiple new products in September, and now AllThingsD confirms that Apple will indeed hold an event on September 12th. Although Apple hasn’t officially commented, AllThingsD’s word is pretty much considered to be a confirmation.

What will Apple announce in two months? Rumors say we’ll see the next iPhone, new iPod touch, and iPad mini. Judging by Apple’s huge spike in component orders overseas, it looks this this fall is going to be a very busy time for the folks in Cupertino.