MacRumors

Apple last week filed for a European patent (via Patently Apple) on methods for fusing glass pieces together to create various types of glass enclosures for a number of products. While the patent application specifically addresses the general concept of such devices, examples and drawings included in the application outline how the process could be applied to such products as iPhones, iPads, iPods, displays, and even televisions.

Three independent claims in the application describe Apple's use of fused glass to create housings to cover displays or other components:

1. An electronic device, comprising: a display; and a housing in which the display is mounted, wherein the housing includes glass structures that have a recess that receives at least part of the display, wherein the glass housing structures include a planar glass member fused with a peripheral glass member that extends around at least some peripheral edge portions of the planar glass member to form the recess.

11. An electronic device, comprising: an electronic device housing formed from fused glass members including at least first and second opposing planar glass members that are separated by a gap; and display structures inserted into the gap.

20. A method of forming an electronic device, comprising: polishing a planar glass member; fusing a peripheral glass member to at least part of an edge portion of the planar glass member to thicken the planar glass member at the edge portion; and attaching the planar glass member and fused peripheral glass member to a housing structure.

Further descriptions suggest that while glass display housings could be paired with enclosures made of other materials as on many Apple products, entire enclosures could be also be made of glass.

Of notable interest, Apple design chief Jonathan Ive is named as one of the inventors on the patent, along with Apple designers Peter Russell-Clarke and Mike Pilliod.

Interestingly, the European patent application cites as priority a U.S. application filed in January 2012. That application was quietly published on July 25 of this year following the expiration of the 18-month confidentiality period on applications, although the application did not specifically name Apple as the assignee of the rights. That application also included rather crude hand drawings for its figures, drawings that were translated into more professional illustrations for the European filing.

Apple has released a new iPhone ad called "FaceTime Every Day," the third in the popular people-oriented ad series the company launched earlier this year. The previous ads, "Music Every Day" and "Photos Every Day" highlighted the iPhone's Music and Camera apps.

As with the other ads in the series that focused on music and photos, FaceTime Every Day highlights Apple's FaceTime app. The spot features a number of people of all ages using FaceTime in various locations across the world.

Soft music plays as a group wishes a man happy birthday from afar, fireworks are shared across long distances, and a woman uses the app to communicate with sign language.

The advertisement ends with a familiar line: "Every day more people connect face to face on the iPhone than any other phone."

Following the electrocution of a Chinese woman that may have been caused by a counterfeit iPhone charger, Apple will launch a new recycling program on August 16th to dispose of any USB power adapter used with the iPhone and iPad.

The company is also offering official replacement chargers for $10 to anyone who turns in a suspect adapter. The program was first reported by 9to5Mac.

Recent reports have suggested that some counterfeit and third party adapters may not be designed properly and could result in safety issues. While not all third party adapters have an issue, we are announcing a USB Power Adapter Takeback Program to enable customers to acquire properly designed adapters.

Customer safety is a top priority at Apple. That’s why all of our products — including USB power adapters for iPhone, iPad, and iPod — undergo rigorous testing for safety and reliability and are designed to meet government safety standards around the world.

Starting August 16, 2013, if you have concerns about any of your USB power adapters, you can drop them off at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Authorized Service Provider. We will ensure that these adapters are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

To get the discounted charger, users can bring any USB power adapter and an iPhone, iPad or iPod to an Apple Retail Store or participating Apple Authorized Service Provider. Only one replacement adapter per device is allowed.

Apple does note that retail stores or service providers cannot give any information about the authenticity or safety of power adapters.

This is not the first time that Apple has introduced a special support program for USB power adapters. In 2008, Apple issued a recall for USB power adapters included with the iPhone 3G. There were a number of reports that the metal prongs on the ultracompact power adapters could break off and get stuck in the wall. To this day, Apple puts a green dot on new power adapters to differentiate them from the older, recalled models.

Apple has sent an email to streaming Internet radio stations asking them to submit cover art for future use on iTunes and mobile devices. It appears that Apple will soon feature independent streaming music stations more prominently, including making them available on iOS -- perhaps in iOS 7.

The company does note that submitted Internet Radio cover art is not currently displayed to users anywhere.

Dear Internet Radio Provider,

Cover Art

The iTunes Store now requires cover art for Internet Radio stations. The cover art files must be 1400 x 1400 pixels in JPG or PNG format using RGB color space. The image URL must end in ".jpg", ".jpeg" or ".png". To add cover art to your station, send an email to itunesradio@apple.com including your contact name, station name and cover art file.

Cover art should avoid pixelation. Any text should be legible at reduced image sizes on small devices. Note that Internet Radio cover art is not currently displayed.

Questions about iTunes Radio?

Check out iTunes Radio here.

Regards,

The iTunes Internet Radio Team

On the Mac and PC, iTunes currently features hundreds of streaming radio stations, including many college and foreign stations.

iTunes Radio, which launches this fall with iOS 7, is a Pandora-like music service that allows listeners to stream ad-supported songs explicitly licensed by Apple, though it's not clear how Apple plans to integrate iTunes Radio and the existing streaming Internet radio stations.

Thanks Airplay Radio!

Nokia has taken a page from Microsoft's advertising book, today launching (via UKMR) a new advertisement comparing the company's Lumia 925 to the iPhone 5.

The ad focuses on the phone's photographic capabilities and is based on Apple's well known "Photos Every Day" commercial, which began running back in April. It uses a similar voice over and style, focusing on Lumia users taking photographs with their devices.

"Every day, more photos are taken on the iPhone than any other phone. But at Nokia, we prefer to build for quality, not just quantity."

The ad goes on to feature the Lumia 925's various photo modes, offering demonstrations of the camera's action shots, motion blur, and best shot feature that captures a series of photos and allows users to choose the most appealing.

Nokia’s Lumia 925 offers an 8.7-megapixel camera that comes equipped with a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and an f/2.0 aperture. In comparison, the iPhone 5 has an 8-megapixel camera with a five-element lens and an f/2.4 aperture. Nokia has included a dual-LED flash on the Lumia 925, which, along with a lower aperture, allows for superior performance in suboptimal lighting conditions.

Nokia highlights the Lumia's flash and low light capabilities towards the end of the commercial, providing side-by-side comparison photos taken with each camera. "Every day, better photos are taken with Nokia Lumias then with any other mobile," reads the final line.

In recent years, Nokia has focused heavily on the photographic capabilities of its devices, most recently debuting the Lumia 1020, which offers an impressive 41-megapixel camera with a six component Zeiss lens.

Apple is expected to greatly improve the iPhone's camera with the release of the iPhone 5S later this year, offering a 12-megapixel camera, several new photographic modes, and a dual-LED flash.

Just over a week after Apple began bringing its Developer Center back online after being down for eight days, the company has emailed developers with an update on its progress. Apple has brought a majority of its developer services back online and plans to reinstate most of the remaining services by the end of this week.

Still down are Xcode automatic configuration as well as access to license agreements, Technical Support Incidents, program enrollments, and renewals in Member Center.

The company notes that if membership were set to expire during the downtime, it has been automatically extended and no App Store sales have been affected.

Apple Developer Update: Aug 5, 2013

We sincerely appreciate your patience as we work to bring our developer program services back online, and we want to give you an update on our progress. The majority of our developer services are currently online, including Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles, Dev Centers, software downloads, Videos, Apple Developer Forums, iTunes Connect, Bug Reporter, App Store Resource Center, and access to pre-release documentation.

We plan to reinstate most of the remaining services this week: Xcode automatic configuration as well as access to license agreements, TSIs, program enrollments, and renewals in Member Center. You can check the availability of these systems on our status page.

As a reminder, if your membership was set to expire during this downtime, it has been extended and your apps will remain on the App Store and Mac App Store.

We apologize for the significant inconvenience that our downtime has caused and encourage you to reach out to our support team if you need any assistance.

Apple's new Developer Center System Status page should be updated as the remaining services come back online.

Research firm IDC today announced its preliminary estimates of worldwide tablet shipments for the second quarter of 2013, finding that Apple's share of the market has fallen to under a third. According to IDC's numbers, Apple held a 32.4% share of the market for quarter, compared to 39.6% in the previous quarter and a 60.3% share in the year-ago quarter.

While other top tablet manufacturers saw their shipments rise by 100-300% over the second quarter of 2012, the lack of a new iPad launch from Apple in the March-April timeframe resulted in a 14% drop in Apple's numbers. Still, other top vendors saw their shipments drop sequentially, with IDC attributing those drops to a lack of a general boost in tablet interest that accompanies iPad launches.

In years past, Apple has launched a new tablet heading into the second quarter, which resulted in strong quarter-over-quarter growth. Now, Apple is expected to launch new tablet products in the second half of the year, a move that better positions it to compete during the holiday season. Meanwhile, the other two vendors in the top 3 also saw a decline in their unit shipments during the quarter. Second-place Samsung shipped 8.1 million units, down from 8.6 million in the first quarter of 2013, although up significantly from the 2.1 million units shipped in 2Q12. And third-place ASUS shipped a total of 2.0 million units in 2Q13, down from 2.6 million in 1Q13.

"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors," said Tom Mainelli, Research Director, Tablets at IDC. "With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that's likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market."

Second-place Samsung continues to close on Apple in the tablet market, garnering 18% of the market as all of the other major tablet makers continue struggling to hit the 5% mark.

As always, it is important to note that IDC's numbers track shipments instead of sales, and thus how many shipped devices are making their way into consumers' hands remains unclear. IDC's figures are also estimates, as most companies do not release their exact tablet shipment data and thus research firms must rely on supply chain data and calculations from information that is made public by manufacturers to build their estimates.