With the launch of the new iPad, equipped with 4G LTE cellular data, it seems likely that the next iPhone will be similarly supplied. Until then, a new startup called FreedomPop is rolling out a new iPhone case/sled that includes a Wi-Fi hotspot powered by the Clearwire 4G network.
FreedomPop, being backed by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, is offering the $99 device with 500MB of free data use each month, and should ship by the end of the summer. All Things Dreports that the company is hoping to act as an alternative to throttled data services provided by native carriers.
"The timing couldn’t be better for our product," said FreedomPop VP of Product Mauricio Sastre in a statement. "Carriers are throttling data and increasing prices and users are desperate for affordable alternatives. As the mobile industry flexes its joint oligopolistic power, we want to ensure that we are keeping them honest."
Apple is continuing the process of preparing OS X Lion for Macs offering ultra high-resolution "HiDPI" screens, upgrading several application icons to higher resolutions in yesterday's public release of OS X 10.7.4.
AppleInsiderpointed to TextEdit as one example, with Apple having upgraded its icon's previous maximum size of 512x512 under OS X 10.7.3 to 1024x1024 in OS X 10.7.4. But the larger image 1024x1024 is also listed as measuring at 512x512 points, indicating that it is indeed being targeted for screens measuring at double the resolution of current displays in each dimension.
Under OS X 10.7.3, the TextEdit icon file included four different image sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 128x128, and 512x512. With the move to OS X 10.7.4, the icon now comes in ten different sizes: 16x16, 32x32 HiDPI, 32x32, 64x64 HiDPI, 128x128, 256x256 HiDPI, 256x256, 512x512 HiDPI, 512x512, and 1024x1024 HiDPI.
TextEdit is not the only application to see an upgrade, however, as Automator has not only seen new HiDPI icons appear in OS X 10.7.4, but the icon itself has also undergone some tweaking. In OS X 10.7.4, the Automator robot has taken on a somewhat darker tone, with the glossiness being toned down and the previously silver arms, legs, and pipe now appearing black. The tweaked design had previously surfaced in developer previews of OS X Mountain Lion, but is now included in OS X Lion.
Automator icon in OS X 10.7.3 (left) and OS X 10.7.4 (right)
Like TextEdit, Automator has seen an increase in the number of image sizes included in the icon file, although to a smaller extent. Under OS X 10.7.3, the Automator icon included the same four basic sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 128x128, and 512x512. But under OS X 10.7.4, the new icon now comes in six different sizes: 16x16, 32x32, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, and 1024x1024 HiDPI.
Retina-sized graphics have been appearing with increasing frequency in both OS X Lion and developer previews of OS X Mountain Lion. In line with those changes, Apple has been rumored to be launching a Retina display 15-inch MacBook Pro in the near future, with a 2880x1800 display measuring in at twice the resolution of the current 1440x900 display in each dimension.
As with the move to Retina displays on Apple's iOS devices, content would appear at the same physical size on these new displays as on current displays, but with much sharper image quality for applications bundling resources supporting the HiDPI mode. Even applications that do not immediately update their resources to HiDPI quality should see improvements in sharpness, as Apple will undoubtedly include the same font scaling improvements used in iOS to automatically scale up text in applications to HiDPI resolution.
iMore reports that Apple is "currently targeting" an October launch for a smaller iPad, with the device carrying a display of roughly 7 inches and being priced in the $200-$250 range.
According to our source, which has proven reliable in the past, the reason for such aggressive pricing is to do to the tablet market what Apple did to the MP3 market in 2004 with the expansion of the iPod product line -- leave absolutely no space for competitors.
Interestingly, the report's source claims that the 7-inch iPad will be "identical in every way" to the current iPad with the exception of the display size, apparently including a Retina display. That would give the smaller iPad a pixel density roughly identical to that of the iPhone 4S.
It remains unclear how Apple would be able to meet a $200-$250 price point for the smaller iPad given the apparent specs, although the device will reportedly come with only 8 GB of storage. Still Apple's current iPod touch starts at $199 and this smaller iPad will undoubtedly carry significantly higher component costs.
Mockup of 7.85-inch "iPad mini" next to iPad 2 (courtesy of CiccareseDesign)
Reports of a smaller iPad have been circulating ever since the launch of the original iPad, enhanced in recent months by perceived competition from Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire. The sheer number of rumors suggest that Apple has at least been working on such a device, and reports of a planned launch for later this year have been increasing. Most observers have, however, believed that the device would carry a non-Retina display in order to allow Apple to meet lower pricing targets.
The site has since offered claims of a smaller dock connector for the next-generation iPhone, an idea which has been gaining traction with other rumors. The site has also issued claims of a fall (likely October) launch of an LTE iPhone anticipated to carry the same 3.5-inch display size seen in all iPhone models to date.
The Etch A Sketch has been a cultural icon for more than 50 years. These days, the iPad has replaced the red tablet as the cultural icon, but a new Kickstarter project aims to combine the two.
The Etcher combines a red iPad case complete with sketching knobs and an app that completes the Etch A Sketch experience. They have even obtained a license from Ohio Art, the company that makes the real Etch A Sketch. Of course, it erases if you shake it.
We are negotiating with a number of contract manufacturers. The most intriguing option is Ohio Art's invitation for us to use the same factory that manufactures the classic Etch A Sketch. Although it is more expensive than some the other options, we like the fact that they already know and understand Etch A Sketch. For instance, they know exactly what color red to use for the plastic--they simply use the same plastic they use in production!
The team behind the Etcher is aiming to fulfill the first orders by the end of October and they plan to publish an open source SDK for accessing the Etcher's controls from within other iOS apps.
The Etcher is available for preorder on Kickstarter for $60, with free shipping within the United States.
Last week, Network World shared a long-lost internal Apple video from 1984 featuring a brief cameo by Steve Jobs in the role of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Given the early 1980s production value and Apple's alternate universe take on its battle with IBM, the video naturally sparked an array of reactions from around the Apple community,
But now another internal Apple video from the same timeframe is gaining some renewed attention for its inclusion of Jobs in another cameo appearance. The video, entitled "Blue Busters", is a spoof of the movie "Ghostbuster" using a reworked version of the film's theme song. And while edited clips of the video including an appearance by Steve Wozniak have been floating around for some time, Network World earlier this week posted an uncut version of the video which includes Jobs' brief appearances.
Jobs' cameos appear at the 3:00 and 4:04 marks in the video, while Wozniak makes an appearance at 2:21.
Apple's "1944" and "Blue Busters" videos demonstrate the company's commitment to taking on IBM in the corporate world, an effort that saw Apple making forays into printers and other peripherals in an attempt to gain a foothold with businesses. But between expensive machines and a lack of software, Apple experienced only limited success despite some devoted fans of its innovations.
Following a claim earlier this week that Apple had made its first settlement offer to Proview in the ongoing dispute over the "iPad" trademark in China, The Next Web now points to a report from Sina.com [Google translation] claiming that Apple's offer amounted to 100 million yuan, equivalent to $16 million.
That marks a substantial increase over the $55,000 purchase price in the original deal between Proview's Taiwanese arm and a dummy corporation set by Apple to acquire the trademark in a number of countries. Proview later claimed that the Chinese rights to the trademark were owned by its Chinese subsidiary and that the Taiwanese arm consequently could not have sold them to Apple.
Proview has been seeking as much as $2 billion in its lawsuits against Apple over the trademark, but today's report notes that Proview has gone bankrupt with $400 million owed to its creditors, speculating that that amount would be the minimum it the company would accept from Apple. It seems extremely unlikely that Apple would increase its offer to that level, and so it remains to be seen how the talks and court case will play out.
Reuters reports on comments from Foxconn chief Terry Gou, who claims that Apple and Foxconn will be splitting the initial costs to improve working conditions at Foxconn's facilities in China.
"We've discovered that this (improving factory conditions) is not a cost. It is a competitive strength," Gou told reporters on Thursday after the ground-breaking ceremony for a new China headquarters in Shanghai.
"I believe Apple sees this as a competitive strength along with us, and so we will split the initial costs."
It was unclear if the split would be 50/50 or in some other ratio.
Foxconn has raised wages several times over the past couple of years as it has faced scrutiny over the treatment of its employees. And following a series of audits, Foxconn and the Fair Labor Association reached an agreement in late March to reduce overtime while boosting compensation packages to compensate for the reduction in hours.
It is unclear how much the actions are costing Apple and Foxconn and how the costs are being split, but with Foxconn operating on a very slim profit margin it has limited ability to finance such improvements without raising costs for its customers or receiving direct support from Apple to assist with the changes.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 is priced at $149.99 in the Mac App Store, identical to Adobe's suggested pricing for the boxed version, although Adobe also offers a $79 boxed upgrade version for users of previous Lightroom versions. Adobe also offers the boxed Lightroom 4 at a discounted $99 when purchased with one of the company's new Creative Suite 6 bundles. Per its standard policy, Apple takes a 30% cut of purchases made through the Mac App Store.
The Creative Suite package has of course been one of the major software titles users have been looking for to come to the Mac App Store, with Microsoft Office being another popular software package high on users' wish lists. And while Adobe has not yet made the leap to offering any of the Creative Suite packages or even standalone applications from those bundles available through the Mac App Store, the addition of Lightroom is certainly a significant step for Adobe in the direction of offering higher-end titles through the marketplace.
Apple today released OS X 10.7.4, the fourth maintenance update to OS X Lion. The update is currently available via Software Update and should appear on Apple's download pages soon.
The 10.7.4 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that:
- Resolve an issue where the “Reopen windows when logging back in” setting is always enabled - Improve compatibility with certain British third-party USB keyboards - Address an issue that may prevent files from being saved to a server - Improve the reliability of copying files to an SMB server
An issue existed in the handling of network account logins. The login process recorded sensitive information in the system log, where other users of the system could read it. The sensitive information may persist in saved logs after installation of this update. See http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4272 for more information about how to securely remove any remaining records. This issue only affects systems running OS X Lion v10.7.3 with users of Legacy File Vault and/or networked home directories.
Out-of-date versions of Adobe Flash Player do not include the latest security updates and will be disabled to help keep your Mac secure. If Safari 5.1.7 detects an out-of-date version of Flash Player on your system, you will see a dialog informing you that Flash Player has been disabled. The dialog provides the option to go directly to Adobe's website, where you can download and install an updated version of Flash Player.
Case-Mate has released a new iPhone case made from 100% recycled post-consumer PET bottles -- the plastic in soda and water bottles. Case-Mate says one recycled water bottle equals one iPhone case.
“As part of our greater effort to encourage more sustainable practices, we’ve introduced a line of fashionable, functional and environmentally responsible cases,” said Shashi Reddy, Case-Mate’s Chief Executive Officer. “By creating Case-Mate products using recycled materials, we’re helping millennials stay stylish and environmentally conscious.”
The $30 case comes in 6 colors, pink, orange, green, blue, black, and white. The case itself isn't anything special -- it's very similar to any number of other cases, including the Snap Case from Incase -- but it's perfect for the environmentally conscious iPhone owner.
Apple customers who purchased an iPod between September 12, 2006 and March 31, 2009 are being informed via email that they are being included in a class-action lawsuit filed against Apple in 2004. The lawsuit was granted class-action status by the courts last year and includes millions of customers who purchased any of a broad number of iPod music players. Notices are being distributed to customers covered by the class, directing them to the lawsuit's webpage.
The class-action suit was filed in January 2005 by a customer complaining about the exclusive nature of Apple's digital music offerings encoded with FairPlay, preventing users from playing music purchased from the iTunes Store on other companies' music players and other music stores' digital offerings from being played on iPods. In particular, Apple's efforts to thwart RealNetworks' reverse engineering of FairPlay with its own "Harmony" technology served as the impetus for the lawsuit.
In 2011, then Apple CEO Steve Jobs was instructed to provide a deposition in the case. Apple of course no longer sells DRM-encoded music through the iTunes Store, but the lawsuit argues that Apple sought to build monopolies in the digital music and portable music player markets by integrating its products and services while preventing interoperability with competitors' products.
Three individuals who bought iPods have sued Apple seeking to recover money for themselves and other people who bought iPods. The lawsuit claims that Apple violated federal and state laws by issuing software updates in 2006 for its iPod that prevented iPods from playing songs not purchased on iTunes. The lawsuit claims that the software updates caused iPod prices to be higher than they otherwise would have been.
The Court in charge of the case is the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the case is known as In re Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litigation, C-05-00037-JW.
The list of affected iPods is extensive, including all 5th generation iPods; the iPod Classic; the U2 Special Edition iPod; first, second and third generation iPod Shuffle models; first and second generation iPod Touch models; and, first, second, third and fourth generation iPod Nano models.
Customers who wish to be excluded from the class must inform the court by July 30, 2012. Members of the class who wish register with the court can sign up on the lawsuit's website.
With the introduction of its new ENVY Spectre XT Ultrabook today, HP is finding itself defending the lightweight notebook's design as observers have raised comparisons to Apple's MacBook Air. The issue was addressed directly in a Q&A session with HP design executive Stacy Wolff, with Engadget reporting on Wolff's response to a question speculating that Apple might try to sue over the design. Wolff argued:
I would go back to the TC1000 [Tablet PC] from about 10 years, and that's a tablet. I think if you look at the new Spectre XT, there are similarities in a way, not due to Apple but due to the way technologies developed. Apple may like to think that they own silver, but they don't. In no way did HP try to mimic Apple. In life there are a lot of similarities.
Engadget followed up with Wolff after the session, and he offered some more thoughts on how there are only so many solutions to a given design problem and how HP's design differs from Apple's.
The thing is that you have to design what's right, and that is that sometimes the wedge is the right solution, silver is the right solution. I see a lot of differences as much as the similarities. I think anybody that's close enough to the business sees that there are differences in the design. Ours is rubber-coated at the bottom. We use magnesium; they didn't do that -- they use CNC aluminum. We did a brush pattern on our product; they didn't. We did a different kind of keyboard execution. We did audio as a component; they didn't. So there are a lot of things I can list off that are differences; but if you want to look at a macro level, there are a lot of similarities to everything in the market that's an Ultrabook today. It is not because those guys did it first; it's just that's where the form factor is leading it.
Wolff goes on to cite the "form follows function" argument in claiming that there are only so many ways internal components can fit into a notebook and that the wedge shape is a natural result of how those physical constraints manifest themselves in a usable product design.
Responding to comments about the black "chiclet" keyboard on silver body being similar to Apple's implementation, Wolff notes that a simple color choice doesn't amount to copying and that HP's work with chiclet-style keyboards dates back to the mid-1980s.
HP is far from the first ultrabook manufacturer to be the subject of questions about potentially copying Apple's MacBook Air. Most notably, ASUS was one of the first company's to show off an ultrabook design in the middle of last year, with that design bearing an even more remarkable similarity to the MacBook Air. PC manufacturers have been rushing to bring ultrabooks to the market, now taking advantage of Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors in an effort to take on the MacBook Air in what is predicted to be the future of notebook computing.
Digitimes has had a hit-or-miss track record when it comes to Apple rumors, but with the site having offered some accurate information in the past, its claims continue to be closely watched. In its latest report, the site lays out a timeline for Apple's iPhone and iPad plans for the remainder of the year, basing its claims on sources within Apple's supply chain.
The report focuses on Pegatron, which has served as an alternate assembly partner to Foxconn for a number of Apple products. According to Digitimes, Pegatron has landed orders for both a new iPhone planned to launch in September and a new iPad scheduled to debut "in the fourth quarter".
The iPhone claim appears to be a reasonable one given current thinking that Apple will return to a roughly one-year interval between iPhone updates, with a September launch coming just under a year after the early October introduction of the iPhone 4S last year.
But the iPad claim is a more troublesome one, as Apple has so far stuck to a yearly schedule for iPad hardware updates centered around the March-April timeframe. A late 2012 release of a new "10-inch iPad" presumably arriving as a next-generation version of the current device would mark a significantly shorter lifecycle for the current model than would be expected.
Similar rumors of a late-year iPad update surfaced last year before being quashed amid reports that work on the new Retina display would keep Apple on its yearly update cycle.
Mockup of 7.85-inch iPad next to an iPhone (courtesy of CiccareseDesign)
Digitimes makes one final claim in its latest report, indicating that Foxconn will be a manufacturing partner for a smaller 7-inch iPad, which is planned for release in August. Claims of such a device have been circulating for some time with some reports similarly pointing to a Q3 launch, and it seems likely that Apple has at least toyed with the idea. It is unclear, however, whether the company truly has any intentions of bringing it out of its design lab.
Apple has been pushing its own nano-SIM design as a replacement for the current micro-SIM for a year. As of a couple months ago, however, Apple was fighting with rival phone makers who were pushing their own SIM designs. Apple has even offered a royalty-free patent license to its design in order to convince other companies to sign on.
The Verge reports that the votes on the next SIM card standard are finally being taken and should be concluded by mid-May. Apple has attempted to counter Nokia's concerns by slightly reworking its design.
We just spoke with SIM card maker (and pioneer) Giesecke & Devrient here at CTIA about progress on the creation of the 4FF standard — the so-called nano-SIM — over which Apple and Nokia have been warring in recent months.
[...]
The company tells us that the ETSI vote on the 4FF standard that had been delayed back in March is actually now underway. Voting began for ETSI members in mid-April and wraps up in mid-May, mere days away. G&D is a voting member, though it wouldn't tell us which way it's leaning — needless to say, the presence of Apple's design here signals that they'll almost certainly put their votes in that direction and away from Nokia's more radical design that limits backward compatibility with micro-SIM and mini-SIM slots on older phones.
G&D also noted that since the nano-SIM design is being "driven by a supplier" -- in this case, Apple -- there wouldn't be a long lag before the new design was implemented. The current standard, the micro-SIM, took five years from ratification as a standard to appearing in the iPhone 4.
Recently, a purported micro-SIM tray for the next iPhone leaked from a part supplier, suggesting that Apple will continue to use that standard in the forthcoming device. Being that the new nano-SIM standard hasn't been ratified, and the fact that Apple would need some lead-time to incorporate the design into the iPhone, it seems likely that the nano-SIM standard would not be ready in time for the next iPhone.
The seventh Apple retail store in Spain will open this Saturday inside the Nueva Condomina shopping mall in the southern city of Murcia. The store fills in coverage along the Mediterranean coast of the country between existing stores in Valencia and Marbella.
The report notes that Apple is expected to open four more stores in Spain over the next year, marking a substantial expansion of the company's presence in the country.
Among several lawsuits filed by Chinese company Proview alleging that it legally owns the "iPad" trademark in China despite a deal December 2009 between Proview's Taiwanese arm and a dummy corporation set up by Apple for the purposes of acquiring the trademark, one lawsuit has been filed in the United States. In that suit, filed in California in late February, Proview alleged that Apple had engaged in deception in its efforts to acquire the trademark.
The Wall Street Journal now reports that the judge handling the case has thrown it out of court, citing an apparent agreement between Apple and Proview to adjudicate their differences in Hong Kong courts, where Apple won a decision last year.
After Proview took its legal case to the U.S., Apple argued for the case to be dismissed on the grounds that the parties had agreed to settle any legal disagreements in Hong Kong.
Judge Pierce upheld that view, writing that Proview failed to provide evidence that the selection of Hong Kong was "unreasonable or unfair," according to a copy of the order.
In response to the decision throwing out the U.S. case, Proview's lawyers claimed that the decision was not based on the merits of the case and that the company will appeal the decision.
The U.S. developments come as Apple and Proview continue their litigation in China, where the two companies are engaging in court-suggested settlement talks that have reportedly seen Apple for the first time making a settlement offer. But the two parties apparently remain far apart in their expectations for a settlement, and it is unclear whether the talks will yield any agreement.
Fortune yesterday released its 2012 "Fortune 500" list, ranking America's largest companies by revenue. As a result of its continued strong growth, Apple rose 18 spots from last year's rankings to land at #17 in the new rankings, which are based on companies' fiscal year reports.
The company emerged from the tragic passing of co-founder Steve Jobs saddened but in no perceptible way weakened. Under CEO Tim Cook, the company continued pumping out new products -- like a significantly upgraded version of the iPad tablet. Apple nearly doubled its earnings per share in 2011, compared to 2010. That helped nudge management to announce plans for the firm's first dividend since 1995, returning some of the $97.6 billion in cash it had accumulated. Apple fans and analysts alike also continue to await a long-rumored television set from the gadget maker.
Apple's 2011 profits of $25.9 billion led the company to a new high as the third most profitable company behind energy giants Exxon Mobil ($41.6 billion) and Chevron ($26.9 billion). Microsoft sits in fourth place with profits of $23.2 billion.
Overall, Exxon Mobil ($453 billion in revenue) surged to barely overtake Wal-Mart ($447 billion) in the race for the top spot in the Fortune 500.
With very strong performances in the first two quarters of fiscal 2012, Apple is putting itself in position to surge even higher in next year's Fortune 500. Apple's official revenues totaling $85.5 billion in just the first half of the year could allow it to threaten to enter the top five next year, as the fifth position is currently held by General Motors at $150 billion for 2011.
Apple and Samsung have been suing each other for years, and Apple wants things to move along a little faster in the main U.S. case in California -- Apple wants to start the jury trial on July 30th as scheduled. Samsung believes the case is too large to go to trial, and wants to delay proceedings while the companies hash things out further.
Both Samsung and Apple have agreed to narrow their claims and the scope of the case in order to move things along, but the companies are still very far apart on numerous issues. Going further, Apple believes Samsung has been intentionally dragging its feet to avoid a judgement that may impact its very successful mobile products business. From an Apple pleading, via FOSS Patents:
While the parties have been readying the case for trial Samsung has vaulted into first place in worldwide sales of smartphones, with massive sales of its copycat products. Samsung's infringement of Apple's intellectual property has already resulted in damages that reach billions of dollars. [...] It is critical to Apple to start trial on July 30, to put an end to Samsung's continuing infringement.
The more than 50 cases between Apple and Samsung cover a number of technical patents, design patents, trade dress and more -- across 10 countries. Whether or not a jury trial starts this summer, the crush of mobile lawsuits likely won't be ending any time soon, regardless of what Apple CEO Tim Cook would prefer.
The best chance for ending the legal fight in the short term is the court-ordered mediation that Apple and Samsung's CEO's have agreed to participate in.
With the launch of the new iPad, equipped with 4G LTE cellular data, it seems likely that the next iPhone will be similarly supplied. Until then, a new startup called FreedomPop is rolling out a new iPhone case/sled that includes a Wi-Fi hotspot powered by the Clearwire 4G network.
Among several lawsuits filed by Chinese company Proview alleging that it legally owns the "iPad" trademark in China despite a deal December 2009 between Proview's Taiwanese arm and a dummy corporation set up by Apple for the purposes of acquiring the trademark, one lawsuit has been 
Fortune yesterday released its 2012 
