MacRumors

Since the release of the iPhone 4S, some users have been complaining about poor battery life. Even with Apple having quietly reduced the standby battery life from 300 hours on the iPhone 4 to 200 hours on the iPhone 4S, active-use battery life for the iPhone 4S was supposed to remain the same or better than on the iPhone 4. But some users are indeed seeing rapid battery drains, both while in active use and in standby, suggesting that some sort of background task is sapping the device's battery under certain circumstances, according to The Guardian.

One user in particular noted a battery drain of 10% per hour even in standby mode. The user was able to replicate the issue with all features such as Siri and location services turned off, and even on a relatively clean phone with no apps installed, hinting that the battery drain was coming from a core functionality on the device. The user does report, however, that Apple has reached out in an attempt to research the issue, asking to install system monitoring software on the device to help figure out what is going wrong.

"I then got a call from a senior [Apple] engineer who said he had read my post and was 'reaching out' to users for data and admitted this was an issue (and that they aren't close to finding a fix!) and asked lots of questions about my usage and then asked if he could install the file below and that he would call back the day after to retrieve the info. I extracted the file from my Mac after a sync and emailed it to him. He was incredibly helpful and apologetic in the typical Apple way!"

Apple has yet to offer an explanation for the battery life issue, but anecdotal reports suggest that corrupted contacts may be responsible. Some users have reported that a backup and restore through iTunes can help, but until Apple offers an official solution those affected by the issue may need to experiment with various solutions.

Apple today officially launched the iPhone 4S in 22 new countries, marking the second round of launches for the device. The company began taking pre-orders last week ahead of the launch scheduled for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

While Apple does not offer online sales in all of the new launch countries and customers looking to purchase subsidized models on contract will not be able to purchase online, Apple is currently quoting shipping estimates of 1-2 weeks for unlocked devices in nearly all of the new markets with online stores. The lone exception is Singapore, where all iPhone 4S models are listed as currently unavailable. Demand for the iPhone 4S has been high in that country, with reports indicating that carrier partner SingTel sold out of appointment slots to purchase the device within 90 minutes of opening registration earlier this week.

Back in May 2010, Google announced plans to launch "Google TV", a software offering available either in a set-top box or built into TV sets and designed to integrate television with the Web. Google TV officially launched in October of that year, but has so far failed to catch on with consumers.

Addressing the platform's shortcomings, Google today announced that early next week it will launch a major software update intended to significantly improve the functionality of the Google TV software. Among the most notable improvements are a streamlined interface with improved searching capabilities and compatibility with apps through the Android Market.

The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet.

...

We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large – apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up – but 50 developers have seeded the Market with cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.

The update will be rolling out to Sony devices early next week, with Logitech's set-top boxes set to receive the update shortly after.

Google's movements in the television space have been closely watched by Apple observers, in part due to Apple's own efforts in the market with the Apple TV, which was relaunched late last year as a set-top box for streaming content. Apple has also been said to be working on its own connected television set, with the most recent report arriving yesterday and indicating that Apple is seeking to launch a Siri-enabled TV by 2013.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Samsung had overtaken Apple for the title of world's top-selling smartphone manufacturer, relying on a source who indicated that Samsung had shipped over 20 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to Apple's announced sales of 17.1 million iPhones.

Samsung today officially announced its financial results for the third quarter, and while it no longer releases smartphone sales units, it did disclose that smartphone sales were up more than 40% over the previous quarter. With Samsung having been close on Apple's heels during the second quarter and Apple's sales declining in the third quarter as customers waited for the iPhone 4S, that growth enabled Samsung to easily surpass Apple in the smartphone segment.

Research firm Strategy Analytics has released its data on smartphone shipments for the third quarter, pegging Samsung at 27.8 million units while Apple barely edged out Nokia for second place by a margin of 17.1 million units to 16.8 million units.

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “After just one quarter in the top spot, Apple slipped behind Samsung to second position and captured 15 percent share. Apple’s global smartphone growth rate slowed to just 21 percent annually in Q3 2011, its lowest level for two years. We believe Apple’s growth during the third quarter was affected by consumers and operators awaiting the launch of the new iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter, volatile economic conditions in several key countries, and tougher competition from Samsung’s popular Galaxy S2 model.”

While Apple is expecting all-time record iPhone sales during the current quarter as the iPhone 4S rolls out around the world, it still may not be enough to overcome Samsung's significant lead and strong growth.

In the overall mobile phone market, Strategy Analytics pegged Apple in fifth place, slipping behind ZTE compared to the previous quarter. Apple's share of the total market fell to 4.4%, down from 5.6% in the second quarter.

On MacOSForge, Apple has announced that they are releasing the Apple Lossless Audio Codec as an open source project:

The Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) is a lossless audio codec developed by Apple and deployed on all of its platforms and devices for some years now. Apple is making the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) available as an open source project. Full details can be found on the Apple Lossless Audio Codec project page.

The Apple Lossless Audio Codec is a similar to other "lossless" codecs such as FLAC which offer audio compression without any loss in audio information. ALAC is said to compress files only by "about half" as compared to the originals.

Formats such as MP3 and AAC are considered "lossy" and result in much greater compression but at the cost of some fidelity. The main advantage of using ALAC over competing lossless formats is that ALAC is supported by all of Apple's iPods and iOS devices. The format had already been reverse engineered prior to this release, but this opens the door to even more products supporting both ALAC creation and playback.

The project has been released under the Apache license.

HP, the world's largest PC manufacturer, has announced that it has reversed course and will not sell off its PC unit. The company had announced in August that it would spin off the business, but with CEO Leo Apotheker having been ousted and replaced by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, HP has reevaluated its plans.

“HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG [Personal Systems Group]. It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, HP's initial estimate of a $300-400 million cost to spin off the PC unit proved to be far too low, with further studies pegging the cost at closer to $1.5 billion. Combined with a strategic review that determined the level of integration across HP's business was deep enough that contributions from the PC unit would be missed, HP ultimately decided to keep the business in-house.

In an interview with Forbes following his company's earnings release, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse noted that the iPhone will actually enable the carrier to continue offering unlimited data plans for a longer period of time than it otherwise would have.

Sprint is still not saying when it may make that switch, but credits the iPhone for helping it push the date out further. “One of the beauties of carrying the iPhone is it extends the period of time and increases the likelihood of us maintaining unlimited data longer because it uses our network so efficiently,” said Hesse.

Hesse notes that the iPhone is better at picking up Wi-Fi signals than Android devices are, allowing users to spend more time connecting via Wi-Fi than placing demands on Sprint's cellular data network.

He also claims that Apple's tight control over iPhone apps and its requirement that those apps meet certain network efficiency standards helps Sprint's network operate more efficiently. According to Barron's, Sprint claims that the iPhone may offer 50% more network efficiency than Android handsets.

Finally, Hesse indicates that Sprint has made a $15.5 billion commitment to Apple for iPhones, targeting sales of six million units per year over the four-year term of the deal.

Sprint is the only U.S. carrier to offer unlimited data for the iPhone. Both AT&T and Verizon had offered unlimited data at the time of their respective iPhone launches, but both carriers have since migrated to tiered data plans designed to charge high-usage customers more.

Apple is definitely building a television set, according to Nick Bilton of the New York Times. The TV, which will include extensive voice control courtesy of Siri, could be announced as soon as late 2012 with a consumer release in 2013. Bilton quotes anonymous sources saying that an Apple television is a "guaranteed product for Apple" because "Steve thinks the industry is totally broken", which is echoed by passages in Steve Jobs' biography.

Bilton says the project has been in the works for years, perhaps as far back as 2007 (the year the iPhone launched and the company launched the Apple TV set-top box. As far as controlling the new set:

It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest.

Of course this experience goes beyond just playing TV shows or the local news. As the line between television programming and Web content continues to erode, a Siri-powered television would become more necessary. You aren’t going to want to flip through file folders or baskets of content, checking off what you want. Telling Siri to “play videos of cute cats falling asleep” would return an endless YouTube stream of adorable napping fur balls.

Bilton firmly believes the television is coming, but says the company "still has quite a bit of work to do on the project", citing the physical design of the TV in particular. He also cites the expense of the display itself, though those prices are falling rapidly.

In a bid to set aside the speculation about if an Apple television is in the works, the piece finishes simply, "it is coming though. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when."

Apple television mockup courtesy Nick Bilton/New York Times

Financial media and data company Bloomberg today launched a new Bloomberg TV+ app for the iPad, offering free, ad-supported live streaming of the financial news channel.

- Live TV: Bloomberg Television Live 24-hours a day
- Featured videos: The biggest business stories right now prioritized by importance
- Last 24 Hours: All the important business stories from the last 24 hours
- Exclusive interviews with the most influential people in business, finance and investment
- Original content produced for mobile
- Bloomberg's critically acclaimed shows on demand

Bloomberg TV+ also allows users to download video content for offline viewing, view bonus content, set reminders for live shows, and share videos via social media and email.

Meanwhile, satellite television provider DirecTV yesterday updated its iPad app to provide free live TV for subscribers. Like several other similar apps from cable companies such as Time Warner, DirecTV customers can only view live TV on their iPads while in their home and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as their DirecTV HD DVR.

What's new

Turn your iPad into a portable TV and watch your favorite shows in any room of your home.
- Quickly scroll through a list of channels available to watch on your iPad with a dedicated “Live TV Streaming” Module.
- Get tips in the help section to guide you through features in the app.
- Set parental controls to block live TV channels viewed on the iPad.
- Change start and end times to add padding to a program when setting a recording.

DirecTV is offering an initial batch of over three dozen channels for live streaming to the iPad, with additional channels presumably coming in the future. The DirecTV app also offers easy transitions from iPad to TV, allowing users watching a channel live on their iPad to simply swipe up on the video to have their DirecTV DVR automatically tune to the channel for viewing on their television set.

Late last month, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in 12 new European countries, with the updated terms and conditions for users in those countries also addressing movie and TV show content despite those options not being made available in the new countries.

It now appears that Apple has begun rolling out iTunes Store movie content in a number of these and other countries, marking yet another substantial international expansion to Apple's content catalog.

Based on reports from readers and an examination of the iTunes Store, it appears that movies are now available in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia, and Slovenia – all countries that had been included in the latest round of music store expansion. Curiously, the Romanian iTunes Store appears to be the only one of the twelve recent music additions to have not yet received movie content.

Earlier this week we also received a couple of reports of movies becoming available in Greece and Portugal, two countries that have had music store access since 2004, suggesting that the movie expansion may be even broader.

As has been in the case with other similar content expansions, Apple has not yet launched dedicated navigation bar tabs in iTunes for movies in the new countries, but the content is showing up in search results.

One other batch of new European markets for iTunes Store movie content went live in late September, with the Apple TV launching in those countries soon after. Consequently, customers in countries where movie content is launching this week may also be seeing the Apple TV debut in the near future.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an Australian judge has agreed to fast-track Samsung's appeal of an injunction barring the company from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country. Samsung had previously said that it would likely cancel the device's launch entirely in Australia if Apple was awarded an injunction, but the company is still pushing forward in an attempt to win the right to sell.

In court today Samsung sought and has been granted an expedited hearing by the Federal Court in Sydney, hoping to overturn the ban before the busy pre-Christmas shopping season.

"I'm quite firm of the view that the matter should proceed on the basis that the lead application be referred to a full court, that it be listed at the same time as any prospective appeal and that the matter be expedited," Justice Lindsay Foster said.

Meanwhile, Apple has also begun going after Internet resellers who have continued to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Australian customers despite the ban. Two sites, MobiCity.com.au and dMavo.com.au, have acknowledged receiving letters from Apple, but dMavo at least has reported that it will not be responding to Apple's demands. The report notes that while injunctions against individual sellers should be rather straightforward for Apple to obtain given the standing order against Samsung, a number of the resellers are headquartered in Hong Kong and it may take some time to determine whether Australian authorities have jurisdiction over their actions.

Adobe has launched the Universal iOS app and Mac app for Carousel this evening. Carousel is Adobe's cloud storage service that allows you to access your entire photo library from all your devices.

Adobe® Carousel is the only photography solution that gives you access to your entire photo library from all your iPad, iPhone, and Mac—no storage issues, no manual syncing hassles. Enjoy your photos anywhere you are, and make them look terrific using the same powerful photo-processing technology that's used in Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom®, so you get the finest photo-editing results delivered consistently no matter what type of device you are using. Create the ultimate family photo hub by sharing a photo library with family members to contribute shots and weigh in on favorites.

The service was first announced back in September and will support Mac, Windows, iOS and Android platforms.

Beyond just online storage and syncing, the Carousel app also offers photo editing as well. The service is a paid subscription that starts at a discounted $59.99 per year or $5.99 per month. Normal pricing will be $99 per year or $9.99 per month. There is a free 30-day trial offered at launch.

Some of the features listed by Adobe include:

- Simply add photos to your Adobe Carousel photo library on your iPad, iPhone, or Mac, and you’ll instantly have access to them in Adobe Carousel on your other iPad, iPhone, and Mac devices.
- Easily crop, rotate, adjust exposure, and make other corrections, or lend your photos serious style with unique looks.
- Create a family photo library without the hassle of sending emails, handing off drives, and trying to figure out which photos to touch up or use in special projects. Simply invite family members to add photos to your library via their own Adobe Carousel apps, and let them flag their favorites so everyone can quickly find the best-loved shots.
- Share those moments that matter by sending your photos straight from Adobe Carousel to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr.
- Snap new photos right from Adobe Carousel on your iPhone or iPad, and they’ll instantly appear in your photo library on all your devices.

Both the iOS and Mac apps are free downloads in their respective App Stores (iOS, Mac)

Thanks @kvnptrck

CNET reports that LG Display and Samsung are continuing to struggle with production of the display planned for the iPad 3 next year, with both companies trying to tackle the challenge of producing the display in volume. Sources have claimed that Apple is planning a 2048 x 1536 display for the device, double that of the current iPad in each dimension.

But whether manufacturers can make them in volumes that Apple demands is the question. "They have production plans for 2,048x1,536 displays. Starting in November. But those are only plans at this point," said the source, referring to LG and Samsung.

"It's not a question of making just one. That, of course, can be done. The challenge is making lots of them," the source said. "This is a quantum leap in pixel density. This hasn't been done before."

Some reports had suggested that Apple was hoping to release the iPad 3 late this year, but by August reports were suggesting that the launch had been pushed back to 2012, if it had ever been targeted for 2011 in the first place. Display production was identified as the major stumbling block at the time, but The Wall Street Journal had noted that trial production of the display was planned for October.

Curiously, CNET's report claims that Apple is also considering a 1600 x 1200 display as a fallback option for the iPad 3 if the higher-resolution display proves to not be ready in time. Such a move would seem to run counter to Apple's strategy for increasing display resolution, as it would not be a clean multiple of the current 1024 x 768 display and would thus cause issues for developers who have already produced apps for the current iPad models.

When Apple transitioned to the Retina display on the iPhone 4, it doubled each dimension of the previous 480 x 320 display to reach the new 960 x 640 resolution. That exact doubling in each dimension allowed the Retina-capable iPhone 4 to easily display content intended for the original lower-resolution display. Over time, many developers have updated their apps to specifically support the Retina display, providing higher-resolution graphics within their apps.

Apple today released a series of firmware updates for its 2011 Mac lineup, addressing several issues to increase the stability of the systems. But the iMac EFI Update 1.7 goes a bit further, bringing the Lion Internet Recovery feature to the current generation of iMac models. The iMac update also specifically addresses several Thunderbolt performance issues.

About iMac EFI Update 1.7

This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection and includes fixes that resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on iMac (early 2011) models.

Internet Recovery launched as part of OS X Lion in July, allowing users to easily install the operating system on a blank hard drive, a feature that is handy for users who are replacing their hard drives or for whom the recovery partition included on their Lion system becomes inaccessible. Internet Recovery functions by adding a minimal bootable install onto a machine's firmware to allow it to connect the Internet and download the full Lion operating system for installation.

Internet Recovery initially debuted on the MacBook Air and Mac mini models that were released alongside OS X Lion, but was extended to the Early 2011 MacBook Pro line last month. With the addition of the iMac, all of Apple's current Mac models with the exception of the Mac Pro are now capable of accessing Lion Internet Recovery. The Mac Pro has not been updated since mid-2010, and delays in Intel's chip production appear to have pushed any refresh into next year.

In addition to the iMac EFI firmware update released today, Apple also pushed out MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.3 for Early 2011 models, MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.2 for Mid 2011 models, and Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.4 for Mid 2011 models.