MacRumors

With both front and rear casing parts and several case designs for the fifth-generation iPad having surfaced over the past several months, we are starting to get a very good idea of how Apple is drawing on design cues from the iPad mini to design a thinner and narrower full-size iPad.

Building on this concept of an iPad mini-inspired design, several more cases have appeared today offering a additional glimpses at what we might be able to expect from the next iPad.

The first set of images comes from case maker Tactus, which shows cases for both the current iPad and the fifth-generation model, with a clear plastic mockup of the fifth-generation model showing how its features would mimic those of the iPad mini.

Meanwhile, Engadget shares photos of another iPad 5 case leaking out of Hong Kong, with a number of comparison shots showing how the device size and various physical features line up between the fourth-generation and fifth-generation cases.

With parts and cases already circulating, it can be difficult to tell whether new case leaks such as these are based on genuinely leaked specs or merely on previous information, but the case designs remain consistent with previous leaks and rumors and may offer a decent picture of Apple's plans.

As noted by AppleInsider, over the past month Apple has posted listings for eight jobs related primarily to hardware engineering in Orlando, Florida. The listings come as Apple is also hiring at its "Melbourne Design Center" that is apparently part of its acquisition of fingerprint sensor firm AuthenTec, but these new positions located roughly an hour away from Melbourne appear to be part of a separate initiative.

A number of the advertised positions relate to graphics chips and drivers, and it is possible that Apple may be working with AMD, which has an R&D and design facility in Orlando, in some capacity. Alternatively, Apple could be drawing on expertise at Qualcomm, which also has facilities in the area. In one job listing for a summer internship, Apple refers to the location as its "Orlando Design Center".

It appears that Apple has had at least a minor presence in Orlando for some time, but the recent job listings suggest that the company is undertaking a significant expansion of its team there.

On Monday, Waze CEO Noam Bardin took the stage at AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile conference and talked (via Mashable) about how his company didn't think Apple Maps would be "that good" but that it underestimated consumer reaction to Apple's service.

The social turn-by-turn navigation company had assumed that Apple Maps would be good enough for consumers, Bardin said, but this assumption led to the company being surprised by the negative reaction many users had to Apple Maps when they rolled out as part of iOS 6.

That reaction led to an open letter from Apple CEO Tim Cook in which he acknowledged the issues with Apple's Maps app and promised to improve the product while also recommending a number of alternatives, including Waze, while Apple worked to bring its maps to an acceptable standard.

According to Engadget, Bardin said that consumers are rapidly acquiring certain expectations when it comes to services such as maps, expectations that are not necessarily easily met.

Consumers now have a quality bar, and that bar is going up rapidly. Two years ago, Apple's Maps app on iOS 6 would've been a fine product.

Bardin went on to say (via VentureBeat) that with the quality bar continually being raised, companies will have to pour more and more money into mapping to match the quality consumers desire. Unsurprisingly, Bardin notes that Google is the one setting that standard.

“Google is out there creating a standard of quality,” Bardin said. “We feel like we’re the only real competition. Rumors say it is $1 billion to $2 billion spent by Google a year.”

Bardin does feel that Apple Maps is getting better with time, but that Apple is being handicapped by its vendors. TomTom provides much of the data for Apple Maps, and Bardin noted that TomTom cannot put as many resources into its mapping service as Google can.

In early January, it was rumored that Apple was in talks to acquire Waze, but it was later reported that there was no deal in sight. Engadget notes that the CEO dodged questions of potential acquisitions while VentureBeat says that Bardin wouldn't confirm whether Waze supplies Apple with data on improving Apple Maps.

Facebook is in talks with Apple about creating a version of its "Home" software for the iPhone, reports Bloomberg.

Originally released for Android devices earlier this month, Facebook Home puts Facebook at the front and center of the phone, displaying photos on the lock screen and transforming the chat experience with overlays called Chat Heads.

According to Adam Mosseri, the director of product at Menlo Park, talks are ongoing and no plans have been finalized. "We've shown them what we've built and we're just in an ongoing conversation," he said.

At a question and answer session after the unveiling of the new software Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed interest in bringing Home to iOS, but mentioned that an iOS version would be harder to create as Facebook would have to work with Apple. Mosseri says that the Home software would be altered to suit Apple's preferences.

"It may or may not be Home," he said. "We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it's not called Home, it's called something else."

Facebook and Apple have had a troubled relationship in the past, being unable to come to a suitable agreement over Facebook integration in the now-defunct iTunes social networking feature Ping, but have worked together on Facebook integration in iOS 6 and Mountain Lion.

In addition to speaking with Apple, Facebook is also courting Microsoft. Both Apple and Microsoft representatives declined to comment on the on the situation.

Update: The Next Web disputes Bloomberg's report, claiming that no discussions are underway.

According to a source inside Facebook familiar with the discussions, the social networking company is not in talks with Apple or Microsoft, contrary to what Bloomberg has reported earlier. We’ve been told that while the company has good relationships with both Apple and Microsoft, right now no discussions have taken place to bring Home to those platforms.

It is, however, currently unclear how The Next Web's claim should be taken, given that Bloomberg's report is based on direct quotes from a named Facebook executive.

Apple has notified its retail stores, authorized resellers, and AppleCare employees about WiFi issues being experienced by a small portion of its third generation Apple TVs, reports 9to5Mac. The units are having issues locating and joining WiFi networks and maintaining a connection.

Apple has determined that a very small number of Apple TV (3rd generation) products might experience one of these Wi-Fi related connectivity issues:

Cannot locate network

Unable to join network

Dropped or intermittent connection.

Apple technicians are authorized to replace affected products for two years from the original date of purchase at no charge to the customer after verifying that the devices are running software version 5.2.1 and that there are no third party interference issues.

The Apple TVs experiencing connectivity problems feature the following serial numbers:

The third generation Apple TV, which features support for 1080p video, was first released in March of last year. It was later tweaked in late January to include a smaller A5 chip.

Update: According to several readers, Apple has acknowledged that it initially erred in referring to the character pairs appearing the third and fourth positions of the serial number. The listed pairs would actually occur in the fourth and fifth positions.

Apple's next generation iPhone may feature a 12-megapixel camera with an improved night shooting feature and HDR reports Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn [Google Translation] (via iPhoneinCanada).

According to the site, the rumor comes from a source at Wonderful Saigon Electrics in Binh Duong, which specializes in providing camera modules for the iPhone.

An improved camera has been a long rumored feature of the iPhone 5S, but there are few specifics available.

The iPhone 5 features the same 8-megapixel rear camera with an f2.4 aperture that was introduced with the iPhone 4S, but it has a sapphire crystal for improved clarity. A further improvement to 12-megapixels with a lower aperture to improve low light photography does not sound out of the realm of possibility.

Camera improvements have been a staple of Apple's "S" phone releases. The iPhone 4S featured an 8-megapixel rear camera, a significant upgrade from the iPhone 4's 5-megapixels.

Apple has also been dedicated to enhancing the camera quality of the iPhone with each iteration as it has become a popular photography device, adding features like panoramas and a volume shutter control. The iPhone has long been the most popular camera on photo sharing site Flickr.

Tinhte.vn has shared several Apple prototypes in the past, notably offering up a preview of Apple's redesigned EarPods and an early version of the fourth generation iPod touch, the first to come equipped with a camera.

Apple today added the fifth generation iPod touch to the refurbished section of its online store, approximately six months after the device was first released.

A refurbished version of 16GB fourth generation iPod touch, which was released alongside the current iPod touch, is also being offered. The fourth generation iPod touch was originally released in 2010 with storage options of 8/32/64GB but was later updated to feature 16and 32GB of storage.

The 32GB fifth generation iPod touch is available in a range of colors for $249, a 16 percent discount off of the regular $299 price. The 64GB version is priced at $349, a $50 discount from the standard $399 price.

The 16GB fourth generation iPod touch is available in both black and white and is priced at $169, a $30 discount from the $199 price.

Apple's refurbished units come equipped with the same one-year warranty that standard products offer and have been thoroughly tested for reliability. The iPod touches can be purchased directly from the website.

Adobe today announced the launch of a free public beta of Photoshop Lightroom 5 for both Mac and Windows, offering a peek at the next major version of the company's digital photo management and post-production software. The beta program runs through June 30, with the official release of Lightroom 5 planned for later this year.

Lightroom 5 beta offers photographers and enthusiasts many new features including:

- Advanced Healing Brush allows customers to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements
- Upright tool analyzes an image to automatically level horizons and straighten objects like buildings to correct a keystone effect
- Radial Gradient tool creates off-center or multiple vignette effects
- Smart Previews allow customers to edit images without needing the original raw file
- Video slideshow enables customers to combine still images, video clips and music in a creative HD slideshow
- Upgrades to the Book module enhancing the ability to create, customize and order elegant photo books using a variety of tailored templates

Adobe's Sharad Mangalick has more on the new features in a blog post on the company's Photoshop.com Blog.

Adobe has yet to announce pricing or an exact release date for Lightroom 5, which will compete with Apple's Aperture software. Aperture 3 was released over three years ago, but Apple has continued to enhance the software with minor upgrades since that time and slashed the price to $79.99 with the launch of the Mac App Store in January 2011. Adobe responded a year later by cutting Lightroom's price in half to $149 with the launch of Lightroom 4.

Last Friday, T-Mobile USA Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert told AllThingsD that the carrier's iPhone launch that day had been "gangbusters" for the carrier with "lines out the door" at its retail stores. While the lines dissipated fairly quickly, T-Mobile undoubtedly believes that the strength of the iPhone and new "Uncarrier" plans unbundling device cost from service charges will help its standing in the competitive U.S. carrier market over the long-term.

Sievert has now followed up with CNET, and while he declined to share any specific sales numbers, he noted that the iPhone launch had given T-Mobile "one of its biggest weekends in the history of the company".

Sievert told CNET that iPhone sales did better than he expected, although he declined to provide specific figures.

"We had really ambitious internal goals, and we beat them," he said.

With the addition of T-Mobile, all four of the major U.S. carriers now offer the iPhone. Counting smaller carriers, the iPhone is now available on 22 carriers in the United States.

It's certainly not the first time fake photos alleged to be parts from upcoming Apple products have surfaced, but a particularly egregious case occurring today is starting to be picked up by other sites, so we thought it would be a good idea to nip this one in the bud.

Earlier today, we received a tip about a site sharing photos of what was said to be the iPhone 5S logic board with an A7 chip on it, along with purported specs about this chip.

Among the posted photos is a full shot of the logic board, which seems to be 100% identical to the iPhone 5 logic board with the exception of an A7 chip. While there is a decent chance that the iPhone 5 and 5S will have very similar logic boards, there will undoubtedly be some changes and the essentially identical appearance immediately flagged the iPhone 5S photo as a certain fake.

As if that evidence were not enough, the post provides additional information in the form of a closeup of the A7 chip, showing off unique part numbers and other codes not seen on the A6 chip in the iPhone 5. These codes also immediately gave away the photo as a fake, and we replied to our email tipster to point out the issue.

It's a fake. The numbers shown on that A7 chip are inconsistent and in some cases nonsensical. For example, there is a "3232" along the right side of the chip. This number should be a code noting the two-digit year and two-digit week of manufacture. Since we're not currently in the year 2032, this code is clearly fake.

In a similar vein, there is another faint manufacture date code along the bottom side of the chip for a different component within the chip. This one they failed to Photoshop, so it shows a "1227" code indicating that it was made in mid-2012 as was the case for the A6 in some early iPhone 5 devices.

We suspect our tipster was associated with the fake photos, as the closeup image was quickly replaced with a new one changing the "3232" to a more sensical "1302" corresponding to the second week of January 2013. The site's watermark on the image was also moved to obscure the second "1227" date code.

We had hesitated to post about these fake photos, but with at least half a dozen other sites having already picked up on the story with varying levels of skepticism, we thought it most important to set the record straight.

Bloomberg Businesweek reports that a survey of executive compensation at Standard & Poor's 500 companies for fiscal 2012 shows four Apple executives holding down the second, third, fourth, and fifth slots behind Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. The group of Apple executives, which does not include CEO Tim Cook, benefited from a massive stock grant shortly after the death of Steve Jobs, with the grants vesting in equal parts in 2013 and 2016 as incentives to keep the executives at the company.

Four of the five highest-paid employees at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies aren’t chief executive officers. They’re Apple Inc. senior lieutenants receiving compensation packages designed to keep management intact in an increasingly competitive industry.

The four executives are Bob Mansfield, Bruce Sewell, Jeffrey Williams and Peter Oppenheimer, according to fiscal 2012 compensation figures for top earners filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. About 80 percent of S&P 500 companies had submitted their numbers as of April 12.

The four Apple executives each received 150,000 shares as part of their grants, with the shares worth approximately $64 million each at today's stock price. Salary, bonuses, and other compensation pushed 2012 totals for Sewell, Williams, and Oppenheimer close to $70 million. Mansfield topped the group of Apple executives with total compensation of $85.5 million, as he received accelerated vesting of shares as an incentive to remain at Apple after he had announced his retirement.

Two other Apple executives saw major stock grants in November 2011, with marketing chief Phil Schiller receiving the same 150,000 restricted stock units as the other senior executives and Internet Software and Service head Eddy Cue receiving 100,000 units just two months after receiving another 100,000 units in recognition of his promotion to the senior vice president level. Schiller and Cue were not, however, included in Bloomberg Businessweek's rankings, as their total compensation is not publicly reported by Apple.

Cook ranked 1016th on this year's list with total compensation of $4.17 million, although he is benefiting from a previous award of one million restricted stock units made when he became CEO. Those units are worth $425 million at today's stock price, with half of the units vesting in 2016 and the remaining half vesting in 2021.

Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are reporting that Foxconn has begun hiring new workers in support of iPhone 5S production. The articles follow a separate report from The Wall Street Journal earlier this month claiming that production on the new iPhone would begin this quarter ahead of a potential summer launch.

From today's Wall Street Journal report:

A company spokesman declined to elaborate on production plans, only saying that Foxconn will continue to expand its workforce in Zhengzhou to meet seasonal demand from clients. But executives familiar with the situation said the company has stepped up hiring in Zhengzhou because it is preparing for production of the new iPhone.

"We have been very busy recently as we will start mass-producing the new iPhone soon," said a Zhengzhou-based executive who has direct knowledge of production plans.

Bloomberg's source offered similar information on Foxconn's hiring push:

Workers have been recruited at Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, eastern China, for the past month, ending a hiring freeze imposed in February, said the person, who asked not to be named because the plans haven’t been made public. The extra workers will assemble the new device as well as existing models and have been added at Apple’s request to boost capacity, the person said.

Apple has been rumored to be planning to introduce its next-generation iPhone as soon as the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, which has itself been rumored for its usual June timeframe.

Other reports have, however, been pushing their predictions of the iPhone 5S launch later in 2013, with relatively reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo just last week having predicted that work on a fingerprint sensor would result in the iPhone 5S launching later than many observers have expected. Kuo declined to offer a specific target date for the iPhone 5S launch, but outlined three possible scenarios involving a launch taking place between September and November.