MacFlaunt » iPad

Influenced by Apple, manufacturers preparing more tablets

Daniel — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:03:57 +0000

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s prediction that tablets will be the most popular PCs by 2006 never came true. Yet Apple’s iPad introduction on April 3rd triggered the world’s computer manufacturers to prepare their own alternatives, says a Wall Street Journal report.

Tablet PCs are not a common sight these days, but Apple’s anticipated move into the tablet market with the iPad has other large electronics manufacturers — such as Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer and Sony — thinking of their own similar products.

The Wall Street Journal quoted on multiple anonymous sources familiar with HP, Microsoft, Sony and Acer saying that the companies are all keeping a close eye on Apple’s foray into the tablet market, with the hope to jump in as well.

First named in the report was HP, which already showed off its tablet offering, the Slate, before Apple. The company is said to wait until the iPad becomes available, so that it can tweak final details and pricing at the last moment. The HP Slate had a mixed reception when it was showcased in January, and the presentation lacked most specifications on the product.

Microsoft is also on the list, tight-lipped over the dual-screen Courier tablet. WSJ’s sources claim the Redmond company has several designers working in Seattle on the Courier, purportedly leaked last year, but that the tablet might not see the light of day.

Sony, which already has several models of e-ink readers on the market, is also considering developing full-fledged tablets. Acer came clean as well, saying it is planning launching several iPad-like devices, with the first model arriving later this year.

Apple’s iPad has clearly reignited attention on tablet PCs, yet it will be interesting to see what approach to this computing style manufacturers approach. By now, the most popular tablet-like devices were single-purpose ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes&Noble Nook.

But Apple’s multi-platform media consumption approach to the iPad is changing the landscape. Tablets are believed to be the saviors of the declining news and periodicals’ revenue stream and print media overall, while opening new doors for video consumption as well.

ARM CEO argues against rumours that Apple need to purchase company

Harry — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:25:45 +0000

On Tuesday a rumour began to circulate that Apple are preparing to take over the British chip company ARM in a bid to rid the market of everything other than Apple. ARM are responsible for over 90% of the world’s smartphones.

Reactions to the rumours has been mixed as although it would be business-savvy for Apple to hypothetically quell all CPU being made for other hardware once bought, the licensing deals that they already have with ARM, that are already in passive effect with the iPad, could be scuppered.

With share prices soaring because of the rumours - the highest they have ever been since 2002 - Warren East, ARM’s CEO was quick to tell The Guardian:

“Exciting though it is to have the share price pushed up by these rumours, common sense tells us that our standard business model is an excellent way for technology companies to gain access to our technology. Nobody has to buy the company,”

Although Apple declined to comment, let’s not forget that it was they who were the founding-father of ARM Holdings in the beginning. Watch this space as it will undoubtedly get messy.

Sources:

MacRumours

PCPro

Checkmate for Adobe Flash on iPhone 4.0?

Daniel — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 13:15:34 +0000

Apple’s iPhone 4.0 preview on Thursday came with a buried surprise in the developer agreement. If they want to make software for the iPhone 4.0, developers must use only Apple’s proprietary tools, which could spell doom for Adobe’s upcoming Flash CS5 software that will compile iPhone-compatible apps.

The paragraph in question in the new Apple developer agreement, first noticed by John Gruber of the Daring Fireball blog, says that the Cupertino company will not approve apps into the App Store unless they are built using its proprietary software.

Basically, this would mean that apps built with third-party compilers, such as Adobe’s upcoming Flash-to-iPhone compiler, would not be accepted into the App Store. The new rules are a direct blow to Adobe’s Flash CS5, which is due release next week on April 12. The iPhone app compiler in Flash CS5 is flagged as a landmark feature in the new software.

Continue reading this story on PCWorld

iPhone OS 4.0: a condensed guide

Elizabeth — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:08:18 +0000

On April 9th during a presentation at the company’s Cupertino HQ, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the all new operating system update for the iPhone, OS4.

Due for download (and most likely with a new iPhone model) in “summer 2010”, the new specs were greeted with both praise and criticism. Although many were please one feature will finally be added to the smartphone, some argue that a few other key features were overlooked.

The biggest new features are:

Third-party app multi-tasking (but not available on the 3G model due to battery life)
Unified inbox – no need to check through separate email folders
Folders – apps can now be organised
iBooks (also available for iPod Touch)
iAd mobile advertising – look at adverts without having to leave the app
Custom backgrounds on the homepage
Game Centre – social networking for gaming on the iPhone (similar to Xbox Live)
5x digital zoom on the camera

Other specs include local notifications, new enterprise features, bluetooth keyboards and 1500 new developer APIs.

However, developers need not wait until the summer to download the new software. Members can sign up to receive the new OS now.

For those who missed the event, watch the full presentation by clicking here.

How the HP Slate stacks up against the iPad

Daniel — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:33:20 +0000

Just hours after HP teased us with another short video of its Slate tablet, Engadget revealed even more details about the upcoming device. Those details are courtesy of an internal HP presentation, which shows the specs of the upcoming device, including both its advantages over the iPad and its weaknesses — such as half of the battery life of Apple’s tablet.

The leaked HP Slate presentation, which looks genuine, elucidates many of the mysteries around the device, starting with the price: $549 for the 32GB model and $599 for the 64GB version. In comparison, the introductory price of an iPad starts at $499 for a Wi-Fi-only 16GB model.

The HP Slate will have a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the iPad, coming in at 8.9-inch and 1024 by 600 pixels against iPad’s 9.7-inch, 1024 by 768 display. According to the leaked presentation, the HP Slate will also be able to run 1080p HD videos, while the iPad can only run videos at 720p.

Continue reading at PCWorld

iPad = iFad

Harry — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:04:06 +0000

Iconic vs. Ironic. Is the iPad worthy of this juxtaposition?

Will it change your life forever? Could it be another iconic addition to Apple’s pioneering hardware back-catalogue? Probably not. Here are five reasons why…

1. No one cares.

As my colleague Sam pointed out a few months ago, there has been a huge dip in the popularity polls. The poll showed that 52% of their random sample were definitely not interested, up from 26% before release in the US.

Cnet’s Buzz Report has been slating Apple for going to AT&T to get the contract to support the 3G tablet’s capabilities. The point in question here is signal. AT&T play second fiddle to the likes of Verizon - providing 5X more 3G coverage than AT&T. So even if anyone did care about it, they probably wouldn’t be able to read about their own iPad’s dysfunctionality because of signal.

2. No Flash.

Flash is not supported on the iPad. A fantastical fail on Jobs’ part at the iPad’s San Fran Keynote speech in the latter of January this year when he stumbled across a flash video during a demonstration. iPhone users are sick of this and anyone who buys an iPad is going to have to endure the same level of annoyance.

3. Usability.

Turning the iPad through to its horizontal plane will not enable it to put videos and films into 16:9. While those annoying black lines are somewhat at-home to the visual-phile of cinema, it’s just as well - watching films on the iPhone is impossible but on the iPad it will be improved, though tedious.

The functionality of this tablet its pretty dire for the amount of money it is currently going for in the US. You get no SD card slot, no E-Ink capability so it’ll definitely be hard on the eyes when reading E-Books and then there’s the apps…

Who will buy a beefed-up version of an iPhone gaming app, just for the iPad? Let’s face it, people don’t install them to have a blast of a night playing all in the top 5 free games list. Instead people download them if they’re bored on a train to kill time, killing whatever’s new that week. Oh and note to the developers: ‘Don’t develop older games, now!’ At least wait a bit to see if those polls change…

Oh and forget trying to do a few things at once. There is a huge problem with the apps that run with the iPad: it will not let you run more than one at once. With a 1GHZ CPU you would have thought it would at least be able to run at least two.

4. Its name.

I’m with Cnet with this one: “Include some women in your focus group, Apple.”

5. Who is it for?

As far as I’m aware: it’s a tablet; but not a tablet, an iPod; but not an iPod because it’s bigger and it’s not an iPhone because it doesn’t make calls. A pessimistic and problematic compromise, respectably.

It is just too cumbersome to be anything short of a huge inconvenience when carrying it to wherever you will need to ‘use’ it. However, the carry case that Apple sells as an extra is pretty swish. Like a leather shell with a book-cover like flap, the flap has two membranes, making it able to stand up for the ease of typing. Another way you can present the iPad to others is through standing it up on its side, with the case, and leaving it cycling through pictures - like a digital picture frame. Very nice if you can afford it.

Granted, this is all very well and, well, bad for Apple to have as much criticism as it has in the last 4-5 months. We will see towards the end of this month whether it was all worth it, or in vain as the iPad goes on sale in the UK. The numbers will speak for themselves.

Official Netflix app coming for iPad

Daniel — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:17:02 +0000

Apple has approved the official Netflix app for the iPad, which will be available in the App Store starting April 3rd. The iPad app will work as part of an unlimited Netflix membership, and will let you sync movies on your tablet with where you left off on your computer.

Screenshots from the Apple App Store, revealed initially by AppAdvice, (you can check them out yourself on Apple’s servers here and here) show that Apple has approved the official Netflix app for the iPad. You will need to have an unlimited Netflix plan, starting at $8.99 per month, and of course, an iPad. The app is free to download.

Continue reading the story on PCWorld

Adobe’s Flash-Crash

Harry — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:57:44 +0000

Adobe has failed to fix a 16 month-old Flash-crasing bug.

The bug, discovered by software engineer Matthew Dempsky, is reported to crash ALL supported platforms running Flash. It was reported that in browsers Safari and Google Chrome it only crashed the supported plugins. However, on opening Firefox 3.6, it takes it down completely.

Matthew explained to PC Mag what it was like trying to explain the problem to Adobe:

“… This issue is merely the tip of the iceberg of ridiculous bugs and random backwards and forwards incompatibilities known as Adobe’s Flash Player plugin. After trying to work with them to fix this issue and experiencing nothing but frustration, I just don’t give a damn anymore.”

Arguably, because Adobe’s Flash was the de facto standard once upon a time, there is an air of reverence in relation to it. No doubt it pioneered multi-platform compatibility but it is being left behind by new mobile devices and their integrated software that is rivalling Flash. Like for instance, newer versions of Javascript supporting complex interactive web content.

It was only last week that Adobe released their 9.3.1 update for Acrobat and Reader. While the updates are ‘critical’ and relate to unauthorised PDF cross-domain requests, there is still no sign of this Flash bug being fixed. We can only hope they get their priorities right soon enough, especially with the imminent release of the iPad.

To try out this bug - or not - for yourself, make sure you have nothing important open and visit http://flashcrash.dempsky.org/

Are you having problems with Flash? Try ClickToFlash, a plugin that blocks Flash when you want and gives you lowered CPU usage, among other features.

Source:

www.tuaw.com

Apple boosts iPhone 3G download capacity

Daniel — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:37:13 +0000

Apple has increased the cap for downloads over 3G networks on the iPhone from 10MB to 20MB, in what some think is a sign of heavier multimedia content appearing for the upcoming iPad.

By now, every time you wanted to download a podcast or application from the App Store that was over 10 MB, you got an annoying message asking you to use Wi-Fi because the file was too large. But not anymore.

Apple lifted the 10MB cap, only to double it to 20MB, which should be a more reasonable figure for video and podcast downloads when out of Wi-Fi range. If you try to download files over 20MB though, a message will prompt you to switch to Wi-Fi.

Besides giving iPhone users a wider variety of content they can download over 3G networks, the cap increase may be a sign that the iPad will require larger file downloads over 3G because of higher resolution graphics and more complex applications.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

Apple’s iPad e-Book store to use DRM

Daniel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:18:25 +0000

The iBook store, the marketplace for electronic books on Apple’s forthcoming iPad, will sell e-books wrapped in digital rights management software, according to sources quoted in the L.A. Times. Apple phased out DRM songs from the iTunes store a year ago, but a majority of publishers are expected to use FairPlay copy protection software for their e-books.

E-books for the iPad have been the subject of debate since Steve Jobs announced the tablet in late January. First, there was the spat over e-book prices, with Apple’s agency model taking Amazon by storm. Many said that Amazon’s DRM was a drawback, but now reports say Apple will use similar technology for its iBook store.

The L.A. Times report quotes unnamed sources from the publishing industry saying Apple is preparing to use the FairPlay copy protection technology, previously used to protect songs in iTunes and now movies and other content, to curb piracy in the iBook store.

Apple’s FairPlay system is used to restrict the number of devices that can access content you purchase; it’s usually set to 5 computers, iPods or iPhones, and so on. Music from the iTunes store was the first to see this system dropped in 2009, though other types of content from the marketplace still use FairPlay.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

A dip in the polls?

Sam — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:51:53 +0000

According to electronics marketing firm Retrevo, interest in the iPad is down significantly from last month. Their poll showed that 52% of their random sample were definitely not interested, up from 26% before release.

So, is this people being genuinely disappointed with the specs? Or perhaps just some hype-fatigue. Perhaps a combination of both.

Much has been written of what the iPad lacks and certainly the lack of a full OS and nothing to stand out over an iPhone is going to turn some people off. Combine that with the kind of speculative hype not seen since… well frankly not seen ever — maybe people have fallen off the fence in protest of being preached at by almost every media outlet.

On the other side, people who definitely wanted to buy and iPad has gone up to 9%, so the release party has definitely converted plenty of people.

As ever, the proof really is going to come with release. The critics have had their say, the faithful stay strong, but no-one can argue with the bottom line, and that’s especially relevant with something that at best was never going to be for everyone. Maybe these numbers are beyond what Apple were even dreaming for.

Either way, a British deal is hotly anticipated by all, and especially how much we will be expecting to pay for them on this side of the pond

Third major publisher dumps $9.99 e-books model for Apple

Daniel — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:22:43 +0000

The future of the $9.99 e-book is in danger. A third major publisher, Hachette, is going for Apple’s agency model in order to sell e-books for up to $14.99 apiece, the company revealed in a memo to agents.

Following Amazon’s public dispute over e-book prices with Macmillan early this week, Hachette is also seeking a shift to the agency model, which allows the publisher to set the price for the e-book, while the retailer keeps 30 percent of the sales.

Hachette follows a similar move by HarperCollins, whose owner Rupert Murdoch was quoted saying during an earnings call that “We don’t like the Amazon model of $9.99 . We think it really devalues books and hurts all the retailers of hardcover books …And now Amazon is willing to sit down with us again and renegotiate.”

In the memo to agents, Hachette claims that it is “not looking to the agency model as a way to make more money on e-books. In fact, we make less on each e-book sale under the new model; the author will continue to be fairly compensated and our e-book agents will make money on every digital sale.”

The $9.99 e-book price point is clearly the hot topic for this start of the year. Two out of five major publishers already denounce the Amazon model, and a third is pushing price renegotiations. Will the other two major publishers, Penguin and Simon & Schuster follow suit? Most probably.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

Can Kindle best Apple’s iPad with touch-screen and apps?

Daniel — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:15:02 +0000

Amazon might not like Apple stealing its e-book thunder with the iPad, but it surely doesn’t mind borrowing a page from Apple’s playbook when it comes to app stores and touchscreens.

Apple’s aggressive entry on the e-book reader market with the iPad gave Amazon a nudge. The result: a future Kindle with a touchscreen and an app store. Yet Amazon doesn’t have a lot of time to counterpunch, as in just under 50 days, the iPad will start selling.

Amazon has acquired the flexibile touchscreen maker Touchco, to incorporate the technology into a future iteration of the Kindle e-reader. The company is also preparing to introduce an app store for the Kindle, which won’t be any less restrictive than Apple’s, reports say.

Through the Toucho acquisition, Amazon is able to add multitouch capabilities to the Kindle, though it’s not known whether it will use colour screens. The Kindle app store is also in works, due to enter limited beta later this month. It will include word games, puzzles and location based travel guides.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

Will we ever see Flash on the iPad? Probably not

Daniel — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:09:21 +0000

Steve Jobs pitched the iPad on Wednesday as a device that lets you browse the Web the way it was meant to. Yet his demo of the iPad clearly showed that there wouldn’t be any support for Adobe’s proprietary Flash platform. Perhaps this was intentional.

The lack of Flash support on the iPhone has been fuelling debates since the smartphone was launched almost three years ago; yet by now, most users agree that the lack of Adobe Flash support for it is not essential to its 3.5-inch multitouch display.

But many find the lack of Flash on the iPad unacceptable, since one of the main aims of the tablet is to browse the Web at its full potential — without Flash, that is. Adobe has been quick to criticize Apple for the lack of Flash support, saying that more than 70 percent of games and 75 percent of video on the Web runs on it.

CNN, Hulu, Disney, and Farmville are only a few of the thousands of applications that won’t work on the iPad — they all run on Adobe Flash. Yet this is not a surprise. Apple must have a really good reason not to enable Flash on the iPad, both technical and political.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

Apple’s iPad ready to challenge the Kindle

Daniel — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:55:11 +0000

Not only will the Apple iPad compete with the Amazon Kindle as an e-reader, but because Apple’s new tablet will run iPhone apps, it will compete with Kindle’s software, too.

People who buy the iPad can choose to use Apple’s new iBooks app and bookstore, or they could opt to run Kindle’s iPhone app on the device instead.

The decision might just come to down to the book stores. The iPad’s iBook store may be new, but the concept behind it is not; it’s not all that different from Amazon’s Kindle store for iPhone.

What’s interesting is that the Amazon Kindle book store will work on the iPad from day one, albeit only in 2x mode (pixel doubling to fill the larger screen).

However, as the SDK for the iPad is out today, Amazon has plenty of time to prepare its store for the larger screen of the iPad over the next 60 days.

READ THE REST OF THIS STORY

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